Dates

Well our typical dates usually include me blogging and Ryan playing Xbox-just kidding, but normally it is  going out to eat every few weeks or watching a movie after the girls are asleep or something of the sort-pretty typical.  But the last few weeks we have been lucky enough to go on some pretty cool dates.  Two weekends ago we had tickets to the Jazz vs. Lakers game with the guys Ryan works with and their wives.  We rode with Ammon and Ali and met up with most everybody else at a delicious Chinese restaurant in Salt Lake and then went to the game.  It was a great game-the Jazz ended up winning, but we had great seats so it was a lot of fun! 

 During the second half Thurl Bailey was talking to the people two rows up from us and taking pictures with people, so I finally decided I wanted to meet him and he had already left.  Last week we finally got to go snowmobiling-Ryan's Christmas present.  We had originally scheduled to go a few days after Christmas, but there was not enough snow for the longer ride we had planned so we opted to go later.  I am glad we waited because we both loved it! We were tired when we got back but it was great!

We lucked out and were the only ones in our group (there were others going later on a shorter trip and people who had left earlier) so it was just us and our awesome guide.   We covered tons of ground and had a lot of freedom to do whatever we wanted to do.  We started out in Midway and first we went clear up the mountain to some open areas and our guide just let us go wherever we wanted.  Then we headed out another direction towards Heber and the best part is we were on the groomed trails so we could go fast-Ryan wanted to see how fast we could get going so at one point we were going 50 mph.  We went down to Cascade Springs and through a bunch of non-groomed trails in fresh snow which was fun because we were just in the middle of trees, but challenging because neither of us have been before so navigating in tight spaces is a little nervewracking :).  On the way back Ryan was loving it and he happened to go off a "jump" and I had no clue so I seriously thought I was going to fly off.  Of course he thought it was so cool he wanted to go again-I thought I was going to die, but luckily (I was seriously holding on with every body part I could) we both stayed on.  Although we about tipped twice going around corners and Ryan got semi-stuck once going up a giant hill in the meadow area by himself no one got hurt.  We saw 2 moose bedded down in the deep snow which was pretty cool, they were probably 50-75 feet up the hill from the trail.  It was great having so much time to spend together talking and watching Ryan have soo much fun, I love this hubby of mine!!

Girlies

This picture is fairly old-a few months, but she bit part of the end off a washable marker, not sure why she is sad-except that I took the marker away!
Mostly just a journaling post about my girls and the things I love right now.  It is not the most orderly, as I found pictures I would add them.  The writing is from the last few weeks, most of the pictures are from the last 6 weeks-2 months.

I just wanted to write a couple things Ilene has started doing the last few days that make me laugh.  Sunday night I was sitting on the couch and she came and grabbed my finger and pulled on it so I would stand up.  Then she wanted me to pick her up and her "directed" me with her pointing and "talking" where she wanted me to take her.  She did this a few more times throughout the night and if she wants me to go somewhere with her she will just come "get" me and if that first little tug doesn't get my attention she wraps her other arm around my wrist :).  I love it.  

She also "blows kisses".  She has given kisses for a while and she thinks she is so funny, but Sunday night all of a sudden she made this sound and moved her hand away from her mouth.  After a few times I realized she was blowing a kiss.  She also will "blow her nose" by blowing on a tissue held by her mouth.  This one makes me laugh every time she does it.

Last night I was folding some laundry and she kept bringing me the makeup bag with all of the nail polish.  I wasn't completely sure what she was wanting, but I opened the bag and she unloaded it and then put it all back in (which is one of her favorite games, she loves putting things back in-especially after taking them out) a few times.  Finally she pulled out one color and handed it to me and climbed in my lap.  Then she pushed her chubby little hand so I painted her fingernails.  She then proceeded to "admire" her fingernails for a few minutes. And if I forgot a nail she would hold just that little nail out.  Oh man we love this little girl.  She is getting so big and has such a fun personality.  She is just so happy and she still loves to "tease" by pretending to give you something and then taking it back.  This results in her giggling while covering her mouth and kind of hiding her face in her shoulder.  She is so much fun! 

She also has started talking more.  She has said mama/dada for a while.  But about two weeks ago we noticed she was saying this Chinese sounding phrase a lot.  We realized it is "get down" and she is getting more and more clear at saying it.  She will say it when it totally doesn't apply just to make us laugh and then she gives us her giggle and smile.  She obviously LOVES to climb and she is so stinkin' fast!! She has also started saying "Uh-Oh" and occasionally she will say "thank you" and "Amen".  She has also figured out how to "cluck" her tongue and she thinks it is great if you mimic her.  She shakes her head "no" if she doesn't want something or if she is done.  She thinks it is great to pick out her clothes and I will show her outfits and she shakes her head "no" or she grabs them and gets really excited.  She is pretty much excited about every pair of shoes she has, she loves shoes and hugs them to her.  I love hearing her little voice and seeing her figure more things out each day! It is so fun to hear her talking while we are driving somewhere and she and Alli both love to "dance" to the music while we are driving or around the house.  Ilene loves dancing and does a "spin" with her hand cocked back behind her when she hears music or you ask her to dance.  And she will bounce more and more now too.  She climbs all over the place.  We rarely have our kitchen stools out because she likes to scale them and walk around on top of the bar, I am literally out of the kitchen for 30 seconds and I come back to this.  She has this little smirk on her face, which I love, but man she is a smart little stinker!  Here she was digging into a bowl of pomegranates.  And also she is an excellent cup drinker, so nice!

Alli is so sweet and soo helpful-95% of the time :).  She definitely has her "attitude filled" moments, but truthfully I feel so lucky because MOST of the time she can be reasoned with or a short time out followed by a little talking helps her calm down.  But like tonight when I was reading her stories and singing her favorite "Teach Me to Walk in the Light" at bedtime she turned and said "Mother, I love you, I will do anything you want" so I told her I wanted her to snuggle and go to sleep so she would be rested in the morning.  So she rolled back over to get comfortable-then she rolled back over to ask what the first thing I wanted to do in the morning was-drawing and play-doh? Sounds like a plan!  But I LOVE that she is old enough to have conversations and I am amazed by all that she comprehends.  I was at a meeting last Saturday morning and I get a text from Ryan that "Alli is a mini you".  So I respond "Why?" Well she was teaching Ryan and Ilene music class.  This year I have been teaching Let's Play Music an amazing program that I love more and more the more I find out about it, and I am truly grateful that I gave in and got trained after a few years of putting it off and "being recruited".  Alli is in the class and she will do the first year class again next year, but she loves it.  So she had the puppets out showing them the puppet show with the song explaining all the parts.  She sang the opener song and had them sit on their special spots.  Then she did the good bye song-nice, short and sweet class! She knows most of her letters and the sound they make, she can count like a champ-up to 12/13 and then it repeats starting at 8 :), and my favorite is that she will add things together or give me the total of things.  It kind of catches me off guard when she does it, but she will add her different animals together in all different arrangements or take some away.  I love that she is so inquisitive and that if we explain things she "gets it".

She loves stuffed animals like crazy! She always has a few with her and they have elaborate personalities and things they like/dislike.  Her favorite animals are dogs, cats, horses, and dolphins.  Oh and randomly enough I brought Full House home from the library a while ago and she was quite obsessed for a few weeks til we took it back.  We did have a haircut a few weeks ago.  Alli will cut paper and make projects quite often so she is usually really good with scissors.  Well one day while she was doing this I noticed her cute little pigtails were different lengths.  So I asked her if she had cut her hair and she said she had.  So then we got to do a little fixing.  I had asked if she wanted her hair cut, but she didn't want to go to a salon and it was "getting in her face"so she decided to do a little DIY problem solving.

That is another thing-she will tell me different solutions to things she wants to do.  Like going to the doctor yesterday for Ilene she wanted to take the computer so she could watch a show or something.  I told her there wasn't internet in the car, but she said well I could sit in the back (there is an outlet in the very back of the car) thinking that the plug would give it internet.  When I explained that wouldn't work she said she could just go to Ryan's work and do it there.  I hope she continues to think of different options for what she wants.   If anything is hurt she wants a band-aid and is very concerned about it and won't want us to look at it for extra long (like a tiny cut will be bandaged for 3-4 days when it was healed at 1-2).  She will be really sad that we can't do things like paint that fingernail because of the bandaid covering it.  Then when it comes off she is soo thrilled that it is all better, she definitely shows her emotions whether they be happy or sad :).  

 These are from Alli's Christmas dance recital.

 Love this poser :).

 I had her put one of my old shirts on for some finger painting/marble painting.  It was such a fun activity while Ilene was sleeping.  With both girls we typically stick to pudding finger painting :).  Alli loves forts! For a few weeks we were building forts every few days and she would seriously like move in-bringing stuffed animals, snacks etc.  Then it would get out of control and everything would be cleaned up.  She still loves if she can change her clothes in her playhouse and pretend it is her dressing room.

Alli had a dance recital a few weeks ago and it was "Alice in Topsy Turvy Land". She was an absentminded mouse and she had so much fun! Ilene loved dancing too and wanted to be up on the stage. She loves spinning around in a circle when she is "dancing".

Christmas

Well now over a month has passed since Christmas and Alli is starting to ask if it is almost time to have Christmas again and I still have not posted about Christmas.  It was so much fun, Alli was so excited about everything and I know it will just keep getting better for these next few years! At the beginning of December we took Alli to a Christmas "Princess Festival"-kind of a bust, but she really liked it so I guess it was worth it?

Alli is showcasing her posed smile in both of these pictures :) We were so lucky to get to see my brother James for a few days when he came out for an interview for the Psychiatry residency at the U. Alli was loving seeing him and was only sad she couldn't see her buddy Scott too!

I love Ilene's shy little smile! I was horrible at taking pictures Christmas day! We had a wonderful, relaxing day with family and lots of time hanging out at home playing with toys!
This is actually a few days after Christmas, but we went to Zoo lights at Hogle Zoo.  It was great because it wasn't super cold and the best part was we saw the tigers seriously fight each other.  We had just walked up and were standing 3 feet from the fence when they started chasing and growling and swatting.  Apparently someone had gone in somewhere they were not welcome! It was probably one of the coolest things I have ever seen to see them so active in real life running and jumping.

Christmas Eve we were able to do a cool thing and release balloons with notes for those we love who are already in Heaven. I think it is one of my new favorite traditions.

We were also lucky to have our neighbor Doug come with us, Alli and Ilene love to go visit him and his cute dog, Shea, and we miss Glenna dearly!!

Ok somehow it was out of order, but that was Alli's Santa surprise, she has been wanting that playhouse since the beginning of November so she was thrilled! 

And seeing as I have a serious lack of pictures-maybe there are some hidden somewhere else on the computer? But a few other things I want to remember about this Christmas.  A few days before Christmas Alli came upstairs SOOO excited because she had found the coolest rocking horse-Ilene's main Christmas present :) downstairs in the furnace room.  Why was she in there? Valid question-she was looking for more Christmas books to read.  So a little bit later since she had found one of Ilene's presents she thought maybe she would luck out and find one of hers-she found those lovely elephant chairs.  So they quickly became presents from mom and dad-Santa only brought Ilene a stocking this year, but mom and dad were extra generous to make up for it.  The best part is Alli was completely unconcerned because she KNEW those presents obviously were not from Santa-otherwise they would not be in our basement-makes sense.  Then a few weeks after Christmas, she found some special Minnie Mouse wrapping paper that Santa had used on her presents.  No worries though she just explained that he must have found it when he came to our house and he knew she would love it so he decided to borrow some-yep that is exactly how it went :).  Apparently Ryan and I need to up our game  in the sneakiness department next year....

We were so lucky and really one of the best Christmases I have ever had.  We got so many things that we have wanted and the girls were completely spoiled with so many fun things.  Alli's favorite things have been her playhouse and kitchen/kitchen utensils.  Ilene is kind of scared of her rocking horse, but she really likes Alli's playhouse and their kitchen too.  Ryan's favorite Christmas present is his snowmobiling date :), and his blasted XBox game :(.  My favorite present was our printer seeing as we have not had one for a few years :), and new clothes and definitely the Christmas card from Ryan and Alli!!

Craziness and Weird

Well I feel like I am finally making an appearance back in the normal world from the crazy one I have felt like I was in the last few weeks! Our house is getting back to our regular routine, which is so nice! Right at the beginning of the years (almost a month ago-I am so slow!) while Ryan was out of town, Ilene came down with the chicken pox.  Luckily since she is still so young it was a fairly mild case as chicken pox goes.  The poor thing was miserable, so itchy, and just achy and clingy.  I tried every lotion/bath/remedy I had ever heard of for itching and really nothing helped that much except Benadryl Allergy so I will forever be thankful for that!  Her case didn't last that long (5-6 days) and we were good to go-except I got super achy, dizzy, and just felt awful! Luckily that only lasted 24 hours and the next day I felt great-until my hands started itching ridiculously bad.  I would wake up from the itching and try everything I could think of, but the only thing that would work is to put my hands in freezing water until they were numb enough that I couldn't feel the itching-awesome.  Then I would go back to sleep until they warmed up enough that I could feel them again and I would start the process over again.  So that morning I called the doctor, went in, and they gave me a steroid cream to use and told me to take Benadryl.  Well the dosage was supposed to work 4-6 hours and it would maybe work 1 1/2 before my hands were out of control again.  My brother told me to go to a family practice dr so I went back in and he wasn't sure if I had caught Chicken Pox (since I had them as a kid) or if I had a viral rash or what was going on so he put me on an anti-viral because the rash was starting to spread up my arms and on my legs (although they were still in spot stage but not itchy yet thankfully).  That really really helped and although that night was a similar routine of freezing my hands, by the next morning I was starting to be slightly better :).  By Friday the itching was totally bearable and by Friday night/Saturday morning I was completely itch free.  This all worked out great because Alli had a UTi on Friday afternoon so we got to make another 2 hour trip hanging out in the little prison cubicle waiting for the doctor to come in and confirm what I had already deduced and irritably give us a presciption.  Seriously I was very unimpressed, our beloved pediatrician just moved so I went to someone else in his practice, but sadly this doctor is majorly lacking in the "relating to kids" department! My girls had been soo good the entire time playing, but he must have had a really bad day :(.   Anyway, the next day was the 3 on 3 tournament Ryan and I had been working on in literally all of our spare time.  A few months ago we started a non-profit organization to help underprivileged youth be able to participate in sports (ampathletics.org if you want more info).  We did the Salem Days 3 on 3 bball tourney in August and it went well so we decided it was a go and started getting everything filed.  The Sports Marketing Class at the high school needed to do an event for their final project.  So their teacher-Mr. Daley (Who I was lucky enough to go to school with, he is a great guy!) asked if we would help them put it together since they have never done an event before.  They were willing to donate all of the proceeds from the event to our charity and we had been wanting to do another event sometime around now anyway so it worked well to work together.  Ryan went in to their class most class periods in December to try to get everything arranged and between their class work, Ryan working his butt off, and whatever I could do to arrange things from home we were able to put together a pretty dang good tournament! We had 10 courts-6 for the adult brackets, 4 for kids/high school

We had 28 adult team, 15 high school, and 8 kids (12 and under).  The prizes were awesome-Ryan totally killed it getting sponsors to donate stuff and we had over $2,000 worth of prizes to raffle off/give to winners.  The shirts were awesome again and truly everyone seemed really pleased with their experience :).  That afternoon getting everyone checked in was madness due to some help not showing up when they were supposed to, but after that it was smooth sailing-although still crazy.  So after the two weeks we had leading up to the tournament and then the tournament and primary stuff that all had to be done at the same time of course we really had to take a week to recoop and try to get my house and life back to normal.  Our girls were awesome helpers and we were lucky to have so much help with them with everything going on!  The amazing part of it is that we raised over $5,000 and since all the help/time is volunteered that all goes straight to making it so kids can participate in baseball/softball/soccer/basketball.  We should be able to fund at least 100 kids to participate so we are pretty excited about that.  Anyway I just wanted to record some of the craziness that has been going on around here because I know I will want to look back on it and read about it later.  And my hands have gone from red "scar" spots to now scaly/peeling any place it was itchy.  It started on my fingertips and has followed the patterns down my fingers and now it is the palms of my hands.  Totally weird to have small chunks of flaky skin come off... Ryan just tells me what a piece of work I am as I had multiple follow up appointments because the main doctor was out of town and there was some miscommunication.  But the blood work came back that my antibodies were high enough they could rule out chicken pox and the spreading pattern wasn't consistent with shingles so it is just some random viral rash :).  Another weird thing is earlier this week I took our girls on a walk, but since it has been cold our garage keypad hasn't been working consistently and one of our neighbors had their garage broken into a week or so ago so I didn't want to leave anything unlocked.  So I took the garage door opener out of the car, closed everything up and off we went to take a neighbor some cookies.  Well we ended up visiting her outside and the girls were playing in the inch of snow left from last weekend's snowstorm.  Alli needed something from inside so I opened the garage, and since we were back I put it back in the car.  We decided to go say hi to our elderly neighbor across the street and I knew it would be a quick visit since it was getting cold outside so I left everything and we walked over.  Well we came back a few minutes later, went inside and got dinner going etc.  The next day I took Alli to her dance class and the garage door opener wasn't in the car.  I thought I must have taken it with us to our neighbor's and then put it inside so I figured I would find it when we got home (and ALL of our counters-bathrooms, kitchens, dressers, nightstands etc. had been completely cleaned and organized on Tuesday which doesn't usually happen all at the same time for me :) so I knew it would be super easy to find since I thought I had just set it there).  Well we came home from dance and Ryan came home for lunch and decided to take my car to get washed so he asked about the garage door opener and I told him it was in our house and I would find it that afternoon.  Well he gets home and asks where it was I told him I hadn't found it yet-starting to get slightly nervous that I had really lost it in our house somehow! Well it is 9:30 Wednesday night, both girls are asleep (when Ryan is usually at his bball game) and I walk into the kitchen for something.  I realize I hear our garage door going up (ours are LOUD!).  This was such an odd feeling because I knew it was my door, we weren't expecting anyone, and we have a missing opener to that door.  I tell Ryan, he runs out through the garage but can't see anyone.  So apparently in the few minutes we had gone to our neighbor across the street someone came into the garage, got in the car, found the opener and stole it! It is kind of unnerving thinking someone was looking through my car or sitting where I sit in the car! I am thankful nothing else was taken and that it was so simple as just the garage door opener which is easily replaced, we changed the frequencies, took off the exterior keypad and life goes on.  I have since found out that in a different part of our neighborhood 2 people have had gas siphoned and a few other odd things.  I called the police non-emergency number and they seemed glad because none of the other happenings had been reported, I had just been intending to "add ours to the list" so they were aware of everything going on.  Anyway so don't just lock your cars, take your openers into your house too!