Yee Hawwwww

So we just got back from our vacation to Nashville, TN. It is actually the first family vacation we cheapskates have ever been on. We have made little over nighters here and there and of course have traveled back to see family, but we have never been on an official "family vacation." Now we have. The girls were great, our hotel was amazing and we had so much fun.

We visited the Country Music Hall of Fame. The admission price was more than we would have liked (yes we are cheap) but we decided we better pay to see the likes of Hank Williams and such. I must say, even though I am not a big fan of country music, I really enjoyed it. It was fascinating to learn about the beginnings of country music and how it has progressed. We spent over two hours (with kids!) walking around and checking out the sights.

This car was decked out with guns for handles.
This was Elvis Presley's gold plated piano. Sorry for the poor pic quality but they didn't allow flashes.
While we were at the museum we made our way into the gift shop and Julia eyed this little gem. She was so thrilled with it and we figured she needed something to remember our trip by, so we got her the princess cowgirl hat. She didn't take it off the rest of the trip. She kept running around yelling "yee haw" and "giddy up." Apparently all the country music was rubbing off on her. Maybe we have the next Taylor Swift on our hands.
While we were wondering the mall we found a carousel. I could just see the wheels turning in Julia's head. The connection between the cowgirl hat and a pony to ride was just too perfect. There was no stopping her.
She named the horse "Snowflake." If you ask her what her favorite part of the trip was, well this was it. Of all the things we did, this was by far the favorite.

We then made our way to down town Nashville so Bryan could see if he could make it as the next country star by twanging his guitar in one of the local bars. Unfortunately Nashville just couldn't handle Bryan's calibur of talent, even with Julia on the drums, so we decided to just walk around instead. They just didn't appreciate Bryan's version of "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem." Maybe it was becuase he wore just a vest and no shirt. His bulging muscles were too much to handle.

Julia thinks that Bryan should have played the Hard Rock guitar instead.


Since we obviously weren't going to make it in the country music business we decided to see how Julia could do with her photography skills. Other than cutting off the top of Bryan's head, not too bad.
Ahhhh, so you're supposed to play like that. Next time Bryan, next time. Either that or we'll get you a leather jacket. Maybe then they'll appreciate your skills.
The cowgirl found her horse.
We then made our way over to the Grand Ole Opry and the Opryland resort. It was AMAZING. It was like an indoor tropical garden.
They had fountains and waterfalls everywhere.
Two cute cowgirls.
Looks like we are somewhere exotic. Is Nashville considered exotic?

The Grand Ole Opry. This is where the magic happens. Well that's what we hear since we didn't actually go inside.
On the drive back we paid homage to my daddy-o who served a mission in Kentucky and stopped in Bardstown at My Old Kentucky Home. This is where Stephen Foster was inspired to write the state song. It was so pretty. All the blossoms were out and the grounds were very nice. It made us want to skip and frolic through the trees and blossoms, but we contained ourselves.
If you are ever driving through Kentucky you should stop in Bardstown. Not only is it the bourbon capital of North America, but it is so quaint and has an amazing down town with great old buildings.
Well the vacation was a success!

It's the End of the World As We Know IT...

I was recently thinking that my little Audrey was in the easiest stage. She wasn't moving around too much. She mostly kept to herself and was content to be pulled up at the table watching Julia play with her toys. Well needless to say, those days are behind me. And I must admit it makes me a little sad.
This wild child now has it out for all of us. When she sees Julia playing quietly with her toys she is like an attacker on the prowl. Julia runs in panic as Audrey approaches ready to destroy. When I am cooking or cleaning in the kitchen and Audrey is to be quietly playing with her toys, she is instead finding the stairs and giving me a menacing smile as she attempts to ascend. Whenever we are using the computer she pulls herself up and begins to madly pound at the computer keys while laughing as I tell her "no, no, no!" Destruction is the name of the game and mischief is Audrey's middle name.
Okay, okay she's not that bad. To be honest she has each of us wrapped around her little finger. As you can see with her new found mobility she has a green bruise on either side of her head. Bryan says it's because her forehead is so prominent. Do you like the snot bubbles in these pictures? I have been feeling guilty that I haven't caught enough adorable pictures of her cute little face and I either get her crawling away or snot bubbles.
Audrey also attended her first birthday party this week. I can't believe that my Audrey girl is approaching her one year birthday. Where does the time go. I try so hard to enjoy every cuddle and love I get from her because they just get big so dang fast.

This week is Bryan's birthday so to celebrate a little early we headed to the zoo and then to Bryan's favorite lunch spot, City BBQ. We stuffed ourselves with as much pulled pork and beef that our big bellies could handle. Anyhoo I snapped a few photos at the zoo...Julia with the giant turtle. There were many snakes in the reptile house that made Julia a little leery. There was a plastic snake on display and Julia started touching it. Bryan snuck up behind her and hissed loudly while grabbing her. Let's just say tears were shed and I think daddy felt a little bit guilty.

Lounging on the manta ray.
posing like the flamingos.
Julia's Aunt Jody and her cousins sent her some "I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus" stickers and two dollars to get a treat. So we went and got ice cream which totally made her day. She was a little disappointed that getting the treat meant giving up her precious two dollars. The stickers were also a great bribery tool during my solo sacrament meeting today. Thanks again Jody!

Chopped

I dressed the girls for Saint Patricks and took a picture. Julia was very disappointed that we didn't wear red, her favorite color.
I took my little Audrey girl to the doctor last week and she is now 17lbs 10oz. She only gained 7oz in three months. So she is now 95% in height and only 35% in weight. She's my little mini. She also thinks she's big stuff. She's walking all over furniture and crawling all over the place. She is getting her top teeth now and can stand by herself for about ten seconds. She's waving and clapping and loves little baby dolls. She also got her first haircut this week...
We drove to Cincinnati to visit one of my best friends Kristi. Kristi is the hair master and gave us each a haircut. The poor girl cut hair all night. Now Audrey has a cute little bob and is no longer scraggly joe.
She actually sat quite still for the cut. It really does look sooo much better. I didn't realize what a difference it would make.
And I chopped my hair as well. I took off five and a half inches and it's shorter than I've had it since I was in 3rd grade and my brother called me "mushroom head." Luckily I had Kristi give me this fantastic hair cut and I don't have ginormous red glasses and buck teeth (like I did in 3rd grade.) I really do LOVE it even more than I thought I would. It gives me so much variety and I am loving it more and more each day. Thank you Kristi! And I must say that the company while getting my hair done beats any thing else. You're the best.

While we were in Cincinnati we also went to some of the parks there. Seriously within just minutes from Kristi's house are so many awesome parks to visit.
My blued eyed girl.
Peeking through the tree. Julia and Zach have so much fun together. Julia loves having a friend to wrestle with.
Julia looks really happy in this picture doesn't she?
Audrey loves the swings. She would stay in there for hours.
That little Connor is so cute.
This slide was HUGE. They were the old school slides that they don't have anymore. Julia and Zach were very brave and went down all the scary ones. Julia is the little dare devil. She has no fear (definitely doesn't come from her mother.)

And yesterday we celebrated our sixth anniversary. Can you believe how young we looked!

Each year at this time Bryan and I do evaluate our lives a little and look back at all we've been through in the past six years. We both agree that we have been so blessed and couldn't be happier or more well suited for one another. Bryan makes me a better person. I know for a fact that my own family liked me more after I married Bryan. There is no one I would rather go through the ups and downs of life with. And since he's not a blogger we are all going to assume he feels the way. Oh and that six years ago he scored the biggest catch of his life. He is one lucky man. Happy anniversary!

All There's Left For Me to Do Is...Dance!

It's been an eventful week at our house. Princess Julia has been helping with dinner. Here she is lowering herself to a servant's task by cutting the olives. She claims the olives add a shiny gloss to her hair. After the difficult work of slicing olives she demanded a foot massage and to be served the royal tacos without soiling her precious hands. Working with royalty can be such a hassle. At least they are willing to slice the olives (with a butter knife of course. What kind of parents do you think we are?) Audrey has been fine tuning her latest talent.


She certainly is pleased with her fine piano melodies or pounding. We like to call it artistic expression of a ten month old.
The biggest excitement of the week was Julia's ballet recital. She looked so beautiful in her leotard and danced like a true princess. We were so proud of her.
Here she is doing the "butterfly" stretch.

Her teacher Miss Sherri does the best job and Julia absolutely loves her and her ballet class. Thank you Sherri! Julia did such a great job that we went home and had Princess Pasta and cookies for dessert. Here is her little class. You cannot even imagine how cute they were out there dancing.Now I know you're all excited for this! Here she is doing her dance moves. I absolutely LOVE watching kids at this age group dance. They totally do their own thing.

Do You Ever?

Do you ever...

get seriously annoyed at slow people in the grocery store and secretly wish you could just give them a little prodding push with your shopping cart?

hear your kids awake in the morning and ignore it for over a half an hour so you can sleep longer?

wish there was a quick fix for that hangy skin you get after you have a baby? Or a fix at all? Dang that hangy skin.

wonder after you leave a party or social gathering if you said something or did something really stupid and think about it for several hours afterwords?

get so desperate for something sweet that you scour your cupboards only to find a large handful of chocolate chips which you devour immediately?

want to punch annoying people in the face, especially ones on reality television?

wish you were more patient with your children, but seriously if I hear whining one more time today... I think I need more patience in general.

feel guilt that you aren't teaching your children enough?

wonder if all the hard work and sacrifice will really pay off in the end?

want to egg your neighbors house because if I hear them playing x-box one more time my brain is going to explode?

wish you didn't feel guilty every time you spend money?

have the feeling as you lay your baby in their soft bed with their soft blankets that you wish you could trade places just for a minute and have a perfectly care free nap?

check your email, blog or facebook like fifteen times a day just in case there's something new?

stand back in pure amazement at how quickly your clean house is once again a disaster area that was ravaged by a ferocious hurricane?

contemplate doing something productive and sit on your fat rear instead?

stay up until 12:30AM and wonder why you are so tired all day?

wonder if other people eat as much as you do? I swear I can seriously throw food down.

color coordinate you and your kids clothes without even realizing it?

have your older child catch you talking to yourself?

wonder if people understand your jokes?

Well...after that awesome list I need to throw out a couple of birthday wishes.
Cute little Allie turned one today, seems like only yesterday she was born.

And Carli the little sis, beastie woman, Ceejee happy twenty third. Love you and hope you have a great day tomorrow.

The Past Couple of Weeks or So...

Saturday was such nice weather. It was almost strange because it was so gusty and cloudy but it was a warm wind. Definitely warm enough to spend a little time outside. Bryan was working all morning Saturday and since we are without a backyard I sent Julia to play on the deck. She collects berries from the tree back there and pretends to plant flowers in her garden. Audrey is crawling and climbing up on everything but I didn't want her crawling all over the deck eating Julia's flower berries. The highlight of the morning was watching the girls blow smeary kisses to each other through the glass while giggling. I could listen to those giggles forever. It was one of those moments you wish you could freeze in time.Here is our now mobile baby. She is crawling and climbing. She is still pretty slow but I feel that coming to an end very soon.

Here is the gardener planting the berries.
Last week we had the chance to go to Disney on Ice. It was such a fun show and just Julia and I went with some friends so it was some special time for her and I. Julia's only disappointment was the absence of Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) but she was still entertained as the Incredibles made their way through Disney Land.
Yes she had to make a "silly face."
Julia and her little date Jansen. Such good friends. Jessica and I were both worried they might be a little scared during the Haunted Mansion portion of the show, but they both put on a brave face. That, or that had no idea what was going on. The ghosts were wearing dresses and that was all Julia was worried about. The ghost looked like princesses. I think Jansen was showing Julia what a brave stud he is.
We also had a little belated Valentine's Party after we got back from our trip. We had to say goodbye to Alici as she moved away this past week. It is always so hard to say goodbye to friends and I seem to be doing a lot of that lately. We just feel so blessed to have so many wonderful ones to say goodbye to.

Grandma and Dance

I was able to go down and visit Bryan's mom and siblings, Amanda and Phillip, while I was visiting. Patricia made a wonderful dinner full of all of Julia's favorite foods and even a dessert of ice cream with all the pink sprinkles Julia could handle. I think Julia ended up eating more sprinkles than ice cream. She spoiled them with toys and clothes and we had such a great visit. Grandma certainly knows her way to a little three year old's heart. We were also able to see little Alli and how big she has gotten. She is already walking and is all over the place. I can't believe how much she has changed since the last time I saw her.

You can see that it is nearly an impossible task to get three kids to look at the camera at the same time. Julia is always staring at something else in the distance and I think Audrey wants to eat Alli's shirt.
My spoiled girls. Or as Julia would say, "I am spoiled lucky!" (I think it's a combination of "spoiled rotton" and "I'm so lucky.")
I like how Audrey's arm is around Alli like she is legitimately trying to pose.
Audrey is really learning to ham it up for the camera. Every time I pull the camera out she gets this huge grin on her face. I think she knows I cannot resist and a picture must be taken.
Julia was able to do a little dance recital while we were in town with her cousin Brooke. Because Brooke is older Julia joined the older class. She was REALLY nervous to be left and was even more nervous to do the little dress rehersal performance in which tears were shed in abundance. But after a big pep talk and an even bigger nap she performed at the half time of the girls' basketball game and did fantastic. I was so proud of her, I think I even teared up a little watching her attempt to do all the dance moves. I especially loved her toe touch. I laugh now even thinking about it. She really did such a good job and I am so glad she was brave enough to do it. She even was able to keep up pretty well with the kindergarten age kids.
Striking a pose with Nana. The tshirts were HUGE and so I tied one end with a hair tie. Julia kept telling Brooke that she had a bun in her shirt. Great job Julia!