Addie's new loves...

Feeding herself:


Pushing around her little push toy:

And climbing the stairs:

New temple

We drove up to see the new Draper temple. We've gone a few times and they just recently added the Angel Moroni to the top so we had to take some pictures.

They wanted to hug in this picture.

In this one I told them to point to the Angel Moroni. Looks like Ben is making sure he's doing it right.
Boy there are some HUGE houses all around the temple. Mansions! Okay maybe not mansions but VERY BIG. I could drive around forever just staring at all of them.

Tea party

My mom is so cute. Every once in a while she gets the kids together for a "tea party". She gets out her little tea sets and has all kinds of little treats and punch for the kids. This time, she let them each make their own cinnamon rolls. They loved it!

Elli put raisins, craisins, almonds, chocolate chips, and coconut in hers.

Ben just wanted chocolate chips in his.

My mom tries to teach the kids manners during the party, like: "Would you please pass the _______?" "Sure, here you go." "Thank you very much." and things like that. Hopefully it sticks with the kids because we don't use manners at home. He he.

Addie was standing on her head here and I just missed getting a pic of her little bum up in the air.

Clem Snide - Find Love

I love to post videos that my kids like to watch and I like to listen to. But seriously, these guys are my new favorite band. (One of my favorites.) My brother-in-law Adam is always introducing me to great music and I LOVE listening to this one. And then unfortunately I found out that they just recently broke up. I'm a little behind. I guess there'll be no tour soon and no new albums. But I can listen to and enjoy what they do have for as long as I need to.

More about teeth...

Addie's first tooth has finally broken through!!! Just a few days after the tooth fairy came for Elli's tooth. Elli is so proud. At Addie's 9 month appointment when her doctor found out she hadn't gotten any teeth yet he said she'll probably get them all at once. So I guess we've started. 1 down, 19 to go. He he.

(If you really want to, you can go ahead and kiss Addie's cheeks in this picture.) :)

31 years

Saturday was my birthday, I can't believe I'm in my 30's! I think I have been in denial all through my first year of being in my 30's but now that I'm 31, it's hit me and there's no turning back. Friday night, my mom watched the kids and me and Brian went out to eat at Market Street Grill. So yummy! It was nice to have a night without the kids. We don't do that often enough. Saturday, Brian sent me on a shopping spree for some new (very needed) clothes for myself. Then later that night we got together with some friends for a barbecue. It was so good to hang out with them. Do I have any pictures of any of this? No! I was lazy and didn't take any. But with all the cards and presents from neighbors, and family, I just felt so special all day! I guess if it is this fun to be 31 then I shouldn't worry about numbers.

Tooth question

Since the recent tooth falling out post, I have a question. Do people keep their kids' baby teeth when they fall out? I saved Elli's very first one from the bottom and thought I was only going to save one so she could see how small it was (someday when she's older). Then I threw away her second bottom tooth. (And it was kind of hard to throw it away.) Now I don't know what to do with this one. I keep thinking now I want to show her how small her top tooth was. Is that weird? Maybe no one saves teeth. Maybe I'm a caveman. It just feels so strange to throw something away that was in her body for so long. If her finger fell off, I might save it. Okay, maybe not. But everytime I go to throw it away, I just can't do it. What do people do these days?!

Top 3

Certain words bug me when they're mispronounced, like:

Fustrated instead of frustrated. This one is like fingernails on a chalkboard for me.

Nucular instead of nuclear. This one used to bug me more than it does now. Ever since the whole Bush thing it's not as bad. It makes me kind of laugh when he does it. I like him, I think he's a smart man but let's face it, some of the things he says just make me laugh, shake my head and sigh.

Evingston instead of Evanston. I know, this one is a city, not a word but when I worked at Wal-Mart after high school, I heard this one lady go on and on about her trip to "Evingston" and I was like did she just say Evingston? Yes, she did. I've heard it several times since and it is awful to hear!

Elli-o-lantern

Elli lost one of her front teeth a few days ago. It was super loose and Brian yanked it out with floss. She of course cried and then 30 minutes later she was like, "I like losing a tooth!" and "Look what I can do with a straw!" She wanted to hurry and put it under her pillow that night so that the tooth fairy could give it to a baby. I guess she learned that at school. We said, "Maybe she'll give it to Addie!" (because she has no teeth yet) and she said, "No you can't choose which baby she gives it to." and Brian said, "Maybe if you write her a note telling her to give it to your baby sister, she might do it." So she got all excited and then never wrote the letter so the tooth fairy hasn't gotten her tooth yet. It's so wierd seeing your kids missing teeth. Sometimes when she's talking I am just mesmerized at how strange it looks and I just can't look away. It really is a huge step from little kid-ity into big kid-dom I think.

Tired, tired!

We get so many mixed messages these days. We water our lawn once a day and it is a lighter green than other neighbors. We are always hearing to conserve water and that we should only water once every two days. Then our HOA tells us we need a greener lawn. So we're like okay should we water twice a day?! We don't want to get a fine from our beloved HOA.

Sometimes we hear that we shouldn't use animal products for clothing and things. That it's cruel. But then when we use man-made things that come from factories, it causes more chemicals to seep out into the ozone and destroy it.

We hear that the polar ice caps are melting. And that we need to use different light bulbs and car pool in order to save the ice. I read an article that said that they are building lots of "scientific lodges" on the ice bergs so they can study this phenomenon. Don't you think that having people living on the ice melts it more? I'm sure they have to use their little snowmobiles to get around and those engines aren't cold. Also lots of traffic in the ocean in that part of the world is stirring up all that water and ice. Maybe that polar bear was scared since he was being chased by a group of men with cameras and maybe he went to far from home and that's why he couldn't find a place to get out of the water. I've also read that there is oil under the ice caps and every country is already staking out their claim on their piece of land. In other words these people want them to melt.

I realize that we can help in little ways and lots of them are money saving for us, like using a hybrid car or consuming less of certain items. But I'm just tired of feeling guilty that I'm not doing enough. Especially if it's celebrities trying to cause the guilt. Oooooh.

Childhood memory

We had an interesting family living kitty-corner from us when we grew up. The kids were always running wild. Whenever anyone on our street had a yard sale, they would hurry and set up a (cheap) jewelry table in their yard and get in on the action. I remember one time when I was like 6 or 7, I was with my next door neighbor (who lived across from them), and we were sitting on her porch in the summer and the mom and oldest son (maybe around 14 or 15 years old or so at the time) had just come home from the store or something. The son took some things inside and the mom was bringing in something too. Somehow, she fell down on her back. Their driveway was quite steep, kind of like a big bump. And she was a short little ball of a woman. Probably not even 5 feet tall. Anyway, she could not get up. She was rolling back and forth trying to get on her side or something and she started yelling for her son. "Jeffrey!?... Jeffrey!?" My friend and I were just frozen in shock. Her son never came out. Eventually she found a way to roll over and get herself up and then she went inside. Wow, I can still see it so clearly. It was such a strange thing to see as a kid. I had never seen anyone else's mom fall down and not be able to get up. I already thought they were a strange group and that didn't help my opinion at all. I know, I sound mean but this was just my view of when I was a child. They moved away before I was out of elementary school. But that moment is forever imprinted in my memory.

Sisters

This is how a big sister keeps a little sister from messing up her toys that are all set up just right.

I love an adventure

Don't ever take your kids to the Radio Disney Days downtown. It's not worth it. By the time you get there, you will go to get in the long face painting line and someone will tell you that they are cutting the line off right in front of you until 11:00 so that it can get smaller so you will stand in the bouncy house line for 20 minutes and your kids will whine that it's too hot and by the time you get up to the front of the line your kids won't even want to get in. So then you will look back at the face painting line and it is now 3 times as long as it was before. And it's only barely past 11:00! As you walk toward that line the same woman who cut the line off is now saying that they will stop painting at exactly 12:00 so stand in line at your own risk. So you will move on to the little games that they have. You see kids with free High School Musical t-shirts and hats but you don't know which ones give out which prizes so you just start at the football throwing tent and your kids won't get the football in the square and they will walk away with nothing. Then you will go to another game in which the line takes another 20 minutes and one of your kids (who didn't want to jump in the bouncy house either) won't want to throw the ball at the tower of cans and get a penny prize. One of your children might enjoy this:

But the other one will not and will scream when splashes get on his legs as you walk past.

And definitely do not take Trax to get there. There will not be enough parking at the stations and you will end up driving to several different stations in order to even park. It will be too hard to get your stroller on because you brought 3 bags filled with diapers, snacks, dry clothes to change into and your purse and the steps are extra steep and there is only a minute or so to get on before the doors start to close. There won't be enough seating so you will have to split up and sit in different chairs. And then when you are coming back home, you will get on the wrong train and it will take you toward the university. So you will have to get off at the next stop, wait for the next one to take you back where you just were and then get on the right train that will take you home. Your kids will be scared that they won't make it on/off fast enough because the doors will start closing before you are all on/off at the same time. You will have to rely on strangers to help you lift your stroller in and out each time and you will be embarassed at all the bags you have and how heavy they are.

Take my word for it, just stay at home.

A new girl

Also on the 4th, Elli got her hair cut. Elli has been wanting to for months and months and I just have never made an appointment. Bailey showed up at my parents with a new haircut and we were commenting on it and then Jackie offered to cut Elli's. (She had also cut Bailey's)

In this picture you can see how long her bangs have grown from when she gave herself a "hair cut" exactly 2 years ago.

She has never had it this short before besides when she was a toddler. She LOVES it! She keeps saying, "I look like a different girl!" and "I want everyone to call me Ana." (which is her middle name)

July 4th

On Thursday the 3rd we went to the Riverton parade with my family. I had to put out chairs the night before and almost all the spots were taken up already.
Brian and Addie

Elli, Bailey, Trevan, and Ryder

Ben with a cheek full of candy. He ate everything that came to him again. After a while, I told him to stop eating candy so he wouldn't feel sick again. A few minutes later he said, "But they keep throwing candy at me, they don't know that I don't want anymore!" So I tried to tell him that he could maybe SAVE it for another day but after that he just handed them all to me. He could not manage having candy in his sight and not eating it. (He might get that from me.)

Bailey and Elli

Thursday night we watched some fireworks in the driveway and then we slept out in my parents backyard in tents. Well, my family and Jeremy's family. I meant to take a picture of my kids sleeping but I thought the flash would wake them up and so then I was going to take a picture in the morning but I forgot. So no pictures of the campout. My mom made a yummy breakfast for us and then we went to the park for the carnival. We met up with some friends who just moved to Riverton and Elli and Ben were SUPER excited because they love playing with their kids Alexis and Carson. It was hot, hot, HOT!

Ben and Carson

Elli and Alexis

When it got to hot to stand it we went back to my parents to play in the water.

Ryder, Trevan, Ben and Elli - they put soap (body wash and bubbles) on the slip-n-slide so it was extra slippery! Jackie said it was a redneck bath.

That night we watched fireworks in the backyard again.

Elli and Bailey Ben bringing the next firework to be lit.

We stayed up way too late again that night but thankfully we went home to sleep in our own beds. We were exhausted!!