Our Life and Travels

One day it was a little too quiet while I was getting ready so I went looking for Grace.  She apparently was getting ready herself.  She found a new bottle of foundation and proceeded to use it all…all on her head.  Lets just say that even after washing her hair four times it still wasn’t her natural color!

Not long after this experience, Grace decided to practice her hair doing skills.  Nothing like  a little hairspray to keep your hair in place…or a lot to completely mat it down!

Thankfully I have a two year old to keep me hip and show me the latest trends!  Thanks for having my back Grace!

Spending the day with two young children is always interesting and full of surprises, you never know what you might learn.  One day on the way home from preschool I had a hilarious conversation with Abby.  Where she comes up with these things, I don’t know, but I love it!

A little background–Grace was talking about something with a little creativity and Abby didn’t like it because “that is not how it really is”.  I told Abby, Grace was just using her imagination and this is how the conversation went:

Abby:  I need to buy some imagination, I’m all out.

me:  Where do you buy it?

Abby:  At the store.

me:  What store?

Abby:  The store in my body, there are lots of stores.  It’s in my brain.  It’s the DNA.

I must have been absent that day in anatomy class when we learned about the retail stores in our bodies.  Thanks Abby for setting me straight!

 She must have just stocked up at the imagination store because she started pulling out all these creative poses when I asked to take her picture!

Santa came through and Grace received the bike she asked for for Christmas.  She couldn’t wait to take it for a ride.  This was the perfect year for it too since we have been lacking in the snow department so far.  The girls have been taking advantage of the clear roads and riding their bikes daily.  Grace loves that she can ride with Abby now.  She can’t seem to get enough of her bike and even tries to bring it in the house when it’s time to go in!

This is what it’s all about for me…

the excitement, the hugs of thanks, and the willingness to share (even if it is already half eaten)!

We had a great Christmas and hope you all did too!

We took the girls to This is the Place State Park last night for their candlelight Christmas.  The girls loved riding the train and being outside while it was snowing.  Of course they had to take off their gloves to warm their hands at the fire barrels.

They liked seeing how Christmas cards used to be made and making a tree ornament for themselves.

Santa was another stop while we were in the pioneer village. Grace had no problem going up to Santa, getting the candy cane, and sitting on his lap. Abby was another story.   After talking all day about sitting on Santa’s lap at preschool, telling me how she is not afraid of Santa anymore, Abby wouldn’t go anywhere near him.  I even got in on the action trying to coax her into it.  Nothing was going to convince this girl to do it.  There is always next year right?!?

The live nativity was really personal this year; they had a live child instead of a doll as the baby Jesus.  As we walked into the stable the baby was crying and immediately I could feel the true spirit of Christmas.  It was really touching.  After being in the stable a couple of minutes, I realized the smell from the animals.  Even Abby picked up on the smell, but still didn’t want to leave until she saw all the animals!  It really made me think about the situation Mary, Joseph, and the Christ child were in on that first Christmas night.  It must have been such a humbling experience.  I hope we always choose to remember and be grateful for the reason why we have Christmas.  Merry Christmas everyone!

I know it’s crowded at temple square this time of year, but really what place isn’t?  The girls have been begging to go to the temple so we bundled up and headed downtown to take it all in.  It really is a gorgeous display of christmas lights and worth the crowds in my book.

The girls wrote their letters to Santa at the beginning of the month ensuring Santa and his elves had plenty of time to make their wishes come true.  They came up with everything on their own.  Two year olds are much easier to please than 4 year olds!  You can tell that Grace is loving letters lately and Abby still loves about every animal on the planet!

Dear Santa-

I would like a D, R, bike, and dress.

Love- Grace

Dear Santa-

I would like a telescope, toy horse, new microphone that is not attached to anything, new pj’s, a toy rudolph that has a glowing nose, toy bald eagle, toy leopard, and toy donkey.

Love- Abby

P.S. Thanks for reading my letter!

I have debated wither or not to post this…talk about a hilarious picture that could pretty much be called humiliating!  I figured a little (or a lot) laughter would be worth it if it helped someone.  I also wanted my girls to know that their mom did everything she could to be proactive about her health and tried to take care of herself so she could be around for a long time.

Because of a family history I was advised to get a colonoscopy now instead of waiting for the typical age 50 recommendation.  Needless to say, that was not number one on my list of fun things to do!  I went ahead with it anyway knowing when it was all done and over with the proverbial “what if” would not be looming over by head.  For me, the worst part was drinking the gross concoction you have to drink to clean out your system.  I could deal with the cleaning out part, but the drink itself was miserable.  Thankfully, it’s over, I’m clean, and there is no “what if” hanging over my head!  So with all that said, the yucky drink was worth it and I encourage anyone who needs it to get it done and over with sooner rather than later.  It’s always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to your health!

Besides who wouldn’t want a stinkbug picture to laugh at–plus if you put it out there yourself nobody can use it as blackmail!

I knew this day was coming, it was just a matter of time!  Lately I’ve noticed that Grace’s hair is getting long and even thought she has had a decent streak without any major hair catastrophes.  Talk about jinxing the situation!!!  While in St George for Thanksgiving the girls loved coloring and took advantage of the kid scissors.  Apparently, during one of the coloring sessions, Abby was not pleased with Grace so she took her scissors and snipped a chunk off the top of Grace’s hair.  Thankfully it wasn’t a large chunk, but she still had her scissor privileges revoked! Add this to one of the many incidences I laugh at once the culprit child is in time out and out of hearing range!

There’s nothing like a getting out of your sister’s barbershop chair with a fabulous new hair do!

This is what I returned to one morning after yoga…

Abby helped herself onto the counter to make toast.  She was so proud of herself for doing it all on her own.  I just didn’t have the heart to reprimand her for climbing on the counter when she was so excited about her accomplishment.  She was even kind enough to make a piece for her sister!