Adventures in Utah Part 1: Hangin' in Kaysville

If you were wondering why I've been missing from the blogging world, it is because I was in Utah from September 7th until the 19th. Kevin couldn't come because of work but the girls and I still had fun with all our family in Utah!

We started out our trip in Kaysville where we were visited by Auntie Sara and Uncle Craig. They spoiled the girls with hugs and kisses, and a beautiful treasure box that Brooklyn has been stuffing necklaces in ever since.


Soon after we arrived I had to leave the girls to go run a relay race, but they were in good hands. Grandma and Grandpa Hanks nursed Brooklyn back to health (she started puking and had a fever on the airplane) and even let her help make a GIGANTIC batch of monster cookies.


When I got back from the race Auntie Janna and cousin Audrey drove down from Idaho to pay us a visit. Grandma Hanks set up the backyard water park for the kids and they went to town drinking and splashing in the water.


It was a hot day so the girls actually played for a long time before finally agreeing on a nap! Obviously, they were enjoying themselves.


Besides playing in the water in the backyard, Auntie Janna also treated the girls to a visit to the pond where they got to help feed the ducks!


Nearing the end of our visit, Janna and Grandpa Hanks took us to the Utah State Fair. It was very hot that day but ice cream and lemonade seemed to cool us off enough to stick around awhile.


Auntie Janna was even nice enough to take Brooklyn on the carousel since I get sick on anything that repetitively turns in a circle. Brooklyn loves rides so it really was a special treat.


But the highlight of the State Fair was the pony ride. Brooklyn was SO proud of herself for riding all by herself. Her funny moment on the pony came when she suddenly realized there was another pony behind her and she yelled, "Oh no! Mommy! The black horse is catching up to me!" Super cute!


The next day we went with Grandma to the Dinosaur Park. We had many dinosaur encounters (most were scarier than I had anticipated) but the girls didn't seem to be scared and they really had fun.


After walking the dino-trail, we stopped in the park for a little while and let the girls get the rest of their wiggles out. Audrey and Lily were laughing their heads off when we put them in the swing together.


To close out our Kaysville trip, we sat the girls down for a photo shoot. Auntie Janna bought the girls matching outfits and Grandpa was the camera man.


It was the hardest photo shoot I have ever witnessed. Everyone was crying and wiggling and crying again! But we still managed to get a few good shots. Enjoy!

More about the Red Rock Relay Race and our visit to Pleasant Grove to come. Stay tuned!

What's Been Going On....

For our anniversary, Kevin bought me these pink roses. Brooklyn was obsessed with them and eventually loved them all to death. But they were beautiful and brought a lot of happiness into out home until that point!


I've been running a lot lately to get ready for my two upcoming races. The Red Rock Relay will be this coming Friday and Saturday, and the Apple Fest 1/2 Marathon is on the 25th. This is usually what happens when I get home from a long Saturday run. I crash on the floor to watch some TV while I cool off, and the girls crash on me!


Brooklyn and Lily have started to "hang out" with each other. Lily laughs at everything Brooklyn does, and Brooklyn takes VERY good care of her little sister. My favorite thing to watch is when Brooklyn waves toys around until Lily chases her for them. As soon as Lily crawls to Brooklyn, Brooklyn runs to the other side of the room. Lily then laughs and tries again. So fun to watch!

We got invited to a Kanikapila with the Halau that I dance for. There was TONS of food, lots of friends, and a whole bunch of talented entertainers! Kevin and I got to dance Keahialapa and Ku'u hoa, Brooklyn made a million friends, and Lily got to be held every second of the night by different admirers.

Lily has gone from getting up on her hands and knees and throwing herself forward into a face plant, followed by vigorous swimming movements, to actually crawling army style.

She has also learned how to sit up on her own and shake her head NO!

Anyway, I'm about to head out to Utah for the rest of the month so there will definitely be more posts, but until then, I just wanted to catch up with these little random moments!

Quick Lily Update

As promised...here are some pictures of the girls and a few quick stats from Lily's well checkup:

Lily is in the 75th percentile for both height and weight and the 25th percentile for her head size...which I think is ironic since the only thing the nurses noticed when she was born was how big her head was!

She weighs 17 and a half pounds and is 27 inches long.

A fun random fact...Brooklyn was 25 pounds at her 6 month well checkup and is now 30 pounds at age 2 and 1/2. The doctor said Lily would probably be just as big if she didn't have such bad reflux! Ha HA! Still...neither of them can compare with their Momma's baby chunk! Good times!

Yeah...that's me at Lily's age...check out those thighs!

Oh yeah...and me at Brooklyn's age! She's got nothing on those chubby cheeks! And look at that haircut. Yikes!

Happy 5th Anniversary!

(Click on image to enlarge. Click it a second time to make it even bigger!)

Today, Kevin and I get to celebrate 5 years of marriage! We have definitely experienced our ups and downs, but we've pulled through and are better for it. Kevin is my best friend and I actually mean that! I would choose to hang out with him above anyone else in the world. He is supportive, loving, funny, fun, motivating, a terrific father, a great help around the house, an incredible running coach, a great camping partner, provider, teacher and friend. Thank you Kevin for 5 memorable years! I can't wait to see what the next 50 bring!

Lily is 6 Months Old!

Today, Lily is officially 6 months old! We have loved having her in our family SO much over these last few months. She is a laid back and easy going little girl with a great sense of humor and a very sweet spirit.


Lately Lily has been practicing doing push ups. She can do several in a row when attempting to crawl and can also hold the plank position for nearly a minute when she is motivated. She is trying hard to learn how to crawl and even managed to make it a whole foot in the forward direction today.

Lily is eating a lot these days. She LOVES food just as much as her sister does. She'll eat baby food in any form but especially likes it when she gets to munch on graham crackers or bread. Now whenever we walk in the room holding food or shaking up her bottle, she starts to grunt and pant really fast and pump her arms up and down! What can I say, these girls are just like their mom!

Another development over the last month is that Lily has learned to love her big sister. She thinks Brooklyn is hilarious even when Brooklyn rides her like a pony (which is one of her favorite things to do when Lily is trying to crawl). The two of them spend a lot of time together playing on the living room floor with stuffed animals and pretty necklaces. When we go to work during the week, Brooklyn is VERY protective over her little sister and Lily really appreciates it since all the other kids are constantly trying to smother her. Its funny because she gets upset when the other kids lay on her or get in her face, but when Brooklyn does it she just smiles and occasionally gives Brooklyn a loving smack to the head.

Another fun thing Lily is doing is experimenting with sounds. Her newest discovery... babo babo babo. Here is a little video of her testing out these new noises.

Lily has also begun to drool uncontrollably, which kind of bites for us because she already spits up uncontrollably, and lets just say our carpets could REALLY use a good shampoo! Here she is attempting to crawl and foaming at the mouth simultaneously.

And just for fun...Everyone keeps telling me how Lily looks exactly like Brooklyn, and while they do indeed look similar, I find them to be quite unique in appearance. Here they both are at the same ages. Enjoy!

P.S.

Lily is going to her 6 month checkup tomorrow so I will post her stats and some more pictures later this week.

Nothing Beats a Visit from Grandparents!

On Thursday, Grandma and Grandpa Hanks drove out to Illinois with our new car and stuck around for a weekend visit. Brooklyn was giddy with anticipation the whole week before they came and was rewarded for her enthusiasm with the most excellent bag of dollar store gifts that a 2 year old could ever get!


Here she is sporting her new Hawaiian lei (that she calls her hula hoop necklace) and her fancy crown from Grandma!

After chatting for a while, we headed to bed to get some rest for our big day on Friday. Friday morning Grandpa took the girls so mom and me could do girl things and have a fun break from the kiddos. Later that evening when Kevin got home from work we packed up a picnic and went to a nearby park.


Brooklyn is now convinced that having a picnic is the best idea EVER! She got to spend the whole evening playing with bubbles, feeding the ducks, participating in a game of tennis and a game of Frisbee, and running around on the playground!


All of us had a fun time and even got to try some new things! I had never played tennis before but had a blast attempting to hit the ball. Brooklyn got to take a few swings as well, although I think she was under the impression that we were playing baseball with a weird shaped bat.

The rest of the weekend consisted of a fun trip to a cemetery where our ancestors are buried, (Brooklyn actually LOVED the cemetery. She thought all the statues of angels were her new friends) a morning at the Children's Museum, and a LOT of fun grandma and grandpa time for the kids!


During the visit, Brooklyn decided that grandma is her new best friend and favorite playmate! When grandma left, she threw herself on the living room floor and sobbed for 15 minutes while repeating, "Why didn't grandma take me to HER house? She needs to come back!"


But before grandma left, Brooklyn got to spend a lot of time playing dress up and make believe games, making rice crispy treats, and singing night time songs.


Lily also gained a new best friend over the weekend. Her and grandpa became inseparable and you could basically guarantee that wherever grandpa was, Lily wouldn't be far behind. Unfortunately for me, Lily is now convinced that she should be held and played with every second of the day, thus, she woke up this morning with a LOT of complaining and hasn't stopped since!


But don't worry! Lily got lots of grandma time too! Here she is playing the horsey game with grandma. She loved it when grandma would start singing and would immediately start smiling like a Muppet when grandma opened her mouth!


Brooklyn also got a lot of grandpa time! Here she is playing a different horsey game with grandpa. He was taking her to a castle for her princess ball.


Another fun thing that we can count on when grandma is around is that our kids will always learn something new. On this trip Lily decided to attempt crawling. She finally was able to move both her legs but couldn't figure out how to move her arms and eventually face planted. But still, she moved her legs!


On Sunday, mom helped me with my young women's lesson and both grandma and grandpa took wonderful care of the girls during church. I don't think I even held either of them once! When we got home, we had a yummo dinner and then played a few more games before grandma and grandpa had to leave. As I said, Brooklyn and Lily were VERY upset to see them go but we all feel blessed to have had them around for the weekend. Thank you mom and dad! We loved having you here and can't wait to see you again next month!

Playdate with the Noordas!

The other day, we were lucky enough to have the Noorda kids over for the morning. The Noordas are some of Brooklyn's favorite people in the whole world so she was pumped when they showed up to play.


Beckham immediately fell in love with the chair Kevin made for Brooklyn so we let him claim it until he was settled in. Then we got to work having FUN!

We started off the morning painting peacocks while watching Thumbelina. The kids really got into it and they all did a great job on their paintings.


Then I propped open the front door to let the kids play in the pool on our porch. Brooklyn and Lily had to get in first to let Beckham know it would be fun. It didn't take long to convince him!


Soon, he and Brooklyn were inseparable buddies. They played in the pool, lined up all their animals, created a nest in the rock pile, and had a GREAT time together!


After the pool party we played with bubbles. I didn't get a picture of all the kids playing but they all had a blast!

When the outside fun was over we ate snowflake shaped PB&J sandwiches, then Scott came to pick up his kids. Brooklyn was pretty sad to see her friends go but I think Lily was pleased to be the only one making ridiculous noises again! All-in-all it was a fun day and we can't wait to do it again!