31 years...

On December 1rst, my parents celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary. I cannot imagine being married for 31 years!! Being a married adult with children, I now realize how hard it is to maintain a healthy marriage. Between kids, work, activities, friends and finding time for yourself, sometimes it is difficult to remember to nuture the relationship you have with your husband. With 1 out every 2 marriages ending in divorce, I am PROUD to say that my Mom and Dad are still happily married. My parents have shown my sisters and I that through good times and bad, sickness and health, to love and cherish your spouse. I feel very blessed to have them both in my life. I love the example they set for me, my sisters and their grandchildren! I love you Mom and Dad!! Happy Anniversary!!!

My Baby is 4 years old...

Yesterday was our Maya's birthday!! She turned 4 years old and I can barely believe it. Time moves so fast. I know it sounds cliche to say, it feels "like just yesterday she was born" but its TRUE! I cannot believe my sweet baby is 4 years old. I love her so much. Here are some of my favorite things about Maya:

-She is the SWEETEST child you will ever meet.

-She loves her family so very much.

-She is very patient.

-She is kind.

-She loves to snuggle with me.

-She tells me "Your my best Mommy".

-She loves to sing and dance.

-She tells us she loves us all the time.

-She is a GENIUS! She is seriously the smartest child I have ever met!!

Whenever I think about Maya I smile. She loves life. She is a happy child. She completes our family. Maya has brought such joy to my life. As many of you know, Kelsey was an extremely colicky baby. Kelsey was born a fighter and has not waivered. Since Kelsey was my first child, I naturally assumed all babies cried all the time and every toddler through multiple fits a day. To my surprise and delight, Maya hardly ever cried as a baby and we are sailing through toddler hood with no tantrums!!

We had a little party for Maya's birthday and it was a lot of fun! Crazy and loud but fun. My parents came up from St. George to celebrate with us. They bought her a digital camera for her birthday! She has not stopped taking pictures!!! Thanks Mom and Dad for coming up and the great gift!!

WE LOVE YOU MAYA!! Happy Birthday Baby!

Traditions...

On Thanksgiving morning Kels asked me, "Mom are you going to wake up tomorrow and make a BIG breakfast and then we put up our Christmas tree?"

I said, "Yes Kels how did you know that?"

Kels said, "Because we do that everytime the day after Thanksgiving! Thats our tradition!!"

I was shocked that Kels knew what a tradition was and that she has been alive long enough to remember an established tradition!! Its true that every Friday after Thanksgiving we put up our Christmas decorations. Typically, I make a huge breakfast, because that is just what you need after gorging yourself all day on Thanksgiving, and then we proceed to spend the entire rest of the day putting up Christmas decorations. This year, my friend and I went Black Friday shopping at Walmart at 4am. By the time I got home I felt like I had been through war!! It was BRUTAL! The crowds, the shoving, the lines....yikes not fun. I got home a little before 7 am and crawled back into bed. My little ladies were awake mere moments later, chirping about breakfast and christmas trees. Just as I was about to explain to them how overwhelmingly exhausted I was from fighting over $5 Barbies, I remembered how excited Kels was about our tradition. I asked the girls to clean up their rooms which gave me about 30 minutes to take a quick nap. Then I made a huge breakfast and we spent all day putting up Christmas decorations....like we always do.

A few days later we took the girls to see the lights on Temple Square. It was very cold, but luckily my boyscout husband made sure we were all dressed appropriately. We had a great time and who knows, maybe we will add that to the tradition!!

The Man who plays with dough...

This is no ordinary piece of pie my friends.

This is the best Banana Creme pie I have EVER tasted.

This pie was made by my multi-talented husband.

YES I am serious!

My husband is an extraordinary baker!! Each year for Thanksgiving he is responsible for the pies and this year was no exception. Thanksgiving was at his sister Becky's house this year and I was quite sad because that meant no leftover turkey for our family. So we decided to have a "Friends Feast" on Saturday night and make all of our Thanksgiving favorites to share with some our favorite couples!!! The feast was loads of fun and we ended the night with 4 AMAZING pies...one of which was this banana creme. Sadly the banana creme pie was gone almost immediately...but I am pretty sure I will be requesting it for years to come!

Halloween...

This year the girls were both witches for Halloween! Kelsey was a "Cute Witch" and Maya was the White Witch from the Disney Movie Chronicles of Narnia. I have never seen this movie, but I am pretty sure that witch did not have a tiarra on!! Maya insisted on wearing a "crown", she said witches were beautiful and crowns make them more beautiful. Kelsey wanted to be a glamorous cute witch-where do these kids come up with these ideas?? They both looked great and had a lot of fun trick or treating. We also had Adam's brothers and sisters, as well as all the nieces and nephews, come over for chilli and breadsticks on Halloween! Good times all around!!

Maya's First Haircut...

Maya just had her first haircut...ok....so her hair actually got cut last month. BUT as you know I have been S-L-A-C-K-I-N-G in the blog deptartment so I am just posting the haircut pics now. I was more nervous about this haircut than Maya was!! When I cut Kelsey's hair for the first time, her curls never returned. So with every snip of the scissors I was sure that Maya's curls would be gone forever. However, to my surprise and elation, her curls returned as soon as she got out of the tub the next morning!!! My longtime friend and hairdresser Christina cut Maya's hair and she did a fabulous job, as usual!!! Thanks Chris for taking our "baby" and transforming her into a "big girl"!!

My favs are all together...

Oh how I heart this baby. This is my angelic niece Jadyn and I am just as obsessed with her as I am with my 2 girls. She is perfection!! She and my sister Rae flew to UT last weekend for a wedding. I L-O-V-E when my family is all together; it happens so rarely. Being together is one of the things I love most in this world. We had a great time at the wedding, and of course the rest of the time together was spent shopping, eating, and laughing!!! Jadyn has grown so much since the last time I saw her!! She is the most darling child and has the most incredible smile!!!!!!! We love you Rae and Jadyn! Come back and visit SOON!

Swim.Bike.Run.

I know, I know, my blog posting has been less than consistent lately! Things have been CRAZY as usual, but I will try and do better!!

Now, on to the triathlon...

A couple of weekends ago, Adam did ANOTHER triathlon! This time he competed in the Kokeppelli Triathlon in St. George. Once again, he did great!! I am so very proud of him! I am exhausted just watching the race, so I can only imagine how the athletes feel when they are finished. It takes a lot of work to be well prepared for these races and Adam has been dutifully training for months! Great job Adam!! The girls and I couldnt be more proud of you!!!!!

Duck Tape Diva...

I bet you are wondering why Kelsey is wearing a Duck Tape Bracelet? I bet you are also wondering why she is SO EXCITED about said bracelet? It looks unassuming enough. It is after all made out of Duck Tape, not diamonds or even pearls. So why is my 6 year old BEAMING from ear to ear about Duck Tape? Why has she worn it to school and even bathed in the Duck Tape bracelet? Well since you asked I will tell you why...

This is no ordinary piece of Duck Tape. It was given to Kelsey by her dance teacher Miss Bethany. In Kelsey's dance class, if you are working very hard and doing your very best, Miss Bethany will occasionally give you a sticker. These coveted stickers are only for those girls who are giving it their all and dancing very well. On even more rare occasions, there will be a dancer who is working exceptionally hard. This dancer will be smiling, doing sharp movements, staying focused and determined. On these occasions, Miss Bethany will announce that said dancer is the Duck Tape Diva, and she will bestow on her a bracelet made of Duck Tape! Now to be honest with you I have never seen anyone become the Duck Tape Diva. Kelsey explained how the "Divas" are crowned when she came home shrieking with excitement!!! She was so proud of herself!!! Anyone who knows Kels knows she LOVES dancing. She tries very hard and is determined to be the best dancer she can be. Kelsey dances at least 6 hours every week and starting next week she will be dancing 8 hours a week. She never complains about going to dance. Every morning she comes in my room and says, "Good Morning Mama! Do I have dance today?" She has been asking me that same question EVERYDAY since her first Jazz 1 class almost 4 years ago!! She watches So You Think You Can Dance and insists she is going to dance like "those big girls" some day!!!

CONGRATULATIONS to my Duck Tape Diva! Hopefully she will take the bracelet off soon, because after 3 days its starting to look pretty bad!!!

Palm Springs

Last week my family met in Palm Springs to celebrate my Mom's 60th Birthday!! We had an AMAZING time! The resort was beautiful and the weather was perfect! The only thing that could have made it better was if my other sister Rae was able to join us! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! I hope I look and feel half as good as you do when I am 60. I love you!!

My 1rst Grader...

My first baby Kelsey started 1rst grade on Thursday!!! This is such an exciting time in her life, but a sad time for mom. Now begins the years where my children spend more time at school with a teacher than they do at home with me. I realized this when I was making lunch for Maya and myself without Kels. I actually teared up!! I miss her so much while she was at school, but thankfully she was having way to much fun to miss old Mom!! She loves her teacher this year and has several of her close friends in her class! Enjoy 1rst grade Kels! We love you and I cant wait for next summer when I have my lunch buddy back home with ME!!!