Walking

Emmalyn is finally walking more than crawling. It's so cute to watch. She moves her shoulders up and down as though it helps her lift her feet off the ground. It seems like it took forever for her to finally walk and it really did considering that most kids are walking by 15 months. Her pediatrician wasn't concerned because she often took 6-7 steps at a time but usually preferred crawling. The funny thing is that she looks so tiny walking. Most people don't expect her to be walking. And it's true, she is a tiny thing. She's my first child to be under the graph on her weight. She lost weight from her 12 month appointment. Again, the pediatrician wasn't concerned because she's a healthy vigorous child. She's just little.

The Sandbox

Right after we moved into our house, we put a sandbox in. Every day since that day I've had a love / hate relationship with the sandbox. Why? It's so much fun and keeps the girls entertained for hours at a time. It also keeps them out of my way while mowing the lawn. However, it is such a mess. When it's wet, it stains clothes and I can't get it out. Also, no matter how many times I ask the girls not to throw sand, it still happens and their hair and scalps are covered in it. It also gets caught in their clothing and tracked all over the house and I can't stand sand on tile. Let's not forget that every cat in the neighborhood is attracted to it, so I'm always having to make sure it's covered and I haven't found a very good method. I've been using tarps, but they disintegrate and it gets costly to keep replacing them. Oh yes, and babies love to eat it. I don't know if you can tell from this view, but Emma was eating the sand and had it all around the corners of her mouth. It makes for fun diapers.

Ran Out of Gas

I'm one of the last people on earth that you'd expect to run out of gas, but guess what? It just happened. Typically when the gas light comes on, I can think of little else but getting to a gas station and filling up. Cars are designed to have the light come on very early so I never worried that I'd be cutting it close. Well, about six months ago, the gas gauge went out on the van. I asked my favorite car shop how much it would cost to fix and was told that it typically costs around $500. Who wants to spend that much  money on the gas gauge? Not me. Thankfully, the gauge was always showing 1/4 tank less than it really had, which only meant that I'd be filling up sooner than normal. Then about a month ago, the gas gauge completely wigged out. It was all over the place. One day it would point to full and the next day my gas light was on. So I decided to start using the odometer. It had been working fine based on my calculations of getting 16 miles a gallon for a 20 gallon tank. That would normally allow me 320 miles. But the last time I filled up, I didn't have quite enough money in the budget to completely fill the tank but was pretty sure that I was close. I thought I could make it at least 300 miles. Well at 294 miles, I was out of gas. I had all the girls with me and it was a super hot day. Thankfully, however, we had just left to get gas and hadn't even made it more than a mile from our house. In the end, I learned two important lessons. Lesson #1 - always fill up the entire tank when depending on the odometer to know when to fill up next. Lesson #2 - my Odyssey only has an 18 gallon tank despite the owners manual saying it holds 20.

The Graves

Sunday night we visited Valley View Memorial Cemetery to visit Grandma Hazel's and Corey's graves.

Then after our hike on Monday, we went to the Redwood Cemetery to visit the Parry and Larson graves.

The girls love to play at the cemetery. Sadie was doing acrobatics with Jeff while Kali was off exploring with Kate. Ashlyn was in heaven with all the flowers and although I told her numerous times not to pick the flowers, she magically ended up with several. I wish I had taken a picture of her after she had picked one particular flower from a flowerbed in the middle of the cemetery because she pulled so hard that the entire plant came out--dirt, roots, and all.

I wish my relative's graves were closer. But even though they aren't, I still spent time remembering them and all the happy times we shared together.

Ensign Peak

Our annual hike up Ensign Peak was a success again this year. Although I am carrying Ashlyn in this picture, she walked a majority of the hike.

The girls loved the flowers and the hike down the best, but I preferred the view and the beautiful weather.

Girls Weekend

A couple of moths ago, my college roommate, Jodie, suggested we have a girls weekend. I thought it sounded fun and told her that if she got the ball rolling, I would totally be there. Recently she became friends with my best friend from junior high, Trisha, and decided that all three of us should get together. When Jodie suggested the idea to Trisha, she offered her apartment in Orem as the stomping grounds and everything else fell into place. It turned out to be a super fun weekend. Jodie treated us to Outback Steakhouse for dinner and then we headed back to the apartment. We spent the rest of the evening talking while putting together a puzzle. It the morning we did a small hike up Provo Canyon and then went out to eat for lunch. (I tried Thai food for the first time in my life.) I love that the three of us were able to relax and enjoy each other's company while gaining insights and a renewed strength to be better, at least that's the way I felt.

Shoes & Mitts

    

Someone has a couple of new favorites--shoes & mitts!!! Anytime Emmalyn is quiet for more than ten minutes, she's either putting on my slippers or trying on the oven mitts.

St. George Vacation

Our annual family vacation to St. George this year was one of the best family vacations we've ever had. We're familiar enough with St. George now that we know what we like to do and what routine works best for the girls.

Day 1

On Monday, we started our drive and stopped at Cove Fort since the girls and I hadn't ever been there.

Then we finished our drive to St. George, settled in at the condo, and went out to eat. Afterward, the girls were begging to go swimming so we spent the first evening enjoying the pool.

Day 2

Tuesday we woke up and went swimming again. It was probably my favorite day swimming because I pulled out some squirt guns that Josh and the older girls played with. They turned out to be a big hit. Meanwhile Ashlyn played with her swimming princess Barbies and Emma and I hung out together.

 After eating lunch and waiting for the two youngest to wake up from their naps, we headed off to Jump N Jacks. It's funny because I thought the two oldest would enjoy it the most, but it turned out the exact opposite. Ashlyn couldn't get enough of the slides and Emma was mad every time I took her out of the kiddie area because she loved it so much while Kali and Sadie complained the majority of the time about getting hurt or being bored.

We also went out to eat and stopped by the Jacob Hamblin home for a tour.

Day 3

Wednesday we decided to go hiking in the morning before it got insanely hot. We went on the same hike in Leeds that we did two years ago. We really enjoyed it back then but enjoyed it even more this time around. The water level was low enough that we got to follow the stream farther up to some pretty cool waterfalls. One part was a little nerve-racking because we had to use a rope and foot-holes in the rock to get to the next level. It wasn't very easy with the little ones, but we made it and loved every second of it. It seemed to be everyone's favorite part of the trip.

Then we ate a picnic lunch and headed to Grandpa Smith's house to go swimming. After spending time with him, we got cleaned up and went out to eat. About an hour before bed, Josh and Kali went on a bike ride while Sadie, Ashlyn, Emma and I played at the condo's playground and in the sand.

Day 4

On Thursday, we woke up and went swimming again. The pool was pretty full that day since the condos were filling up for the weekend. After lunch and naps we went to Johnson Farm which has dinosaur fossils.

Then we went to Fiesta Fun and out to eat. That evening we ate popcorn and watched a movie back at the condo.

Day 5

Friday we packed up, took a quick stroll around the St. George Temple and did some shopping at the outlets before heading home. It was a packed vacation, yet very relaxing at the same time.

Disney Dance Recital

This year the theme for Kali's and Sadie's dance recital was Disney. Sadie danced to The Happy Working Song from Enchanted. She got to dress up as a maid and looked so cute. One of her favorite parts was dusting the other dancer's feet.

Kali's dance was choreographed to The Second Star to the Right from Peter Pan. She also seemed to have a favorite dance move, the very first one that she got to repeat several times. For her dance pictures, the photographer asked if anyone could do a leg extension. Kali and one other girl said they could, so she did a sweet looking leg extension for the group picture. Between that and her splits, she is one flexible girl. Most people only dream of having that kind of flexibility.

Fashion Show

For activity days this week, I was invited to a mother/daughter fashion show with Kali. Thankfully I got to create the fashion while she strutted down the catwalk. I think I missed my calling in life as a fashion designer, don't you! The girls were pretty nervous about walking down the runway so Kali volunteered to go first. She had no clue what she was doing but came out dancing and having a good time. Everyone in attendance was so shocked to see that side of her personality because she always so quite and still at church.