15 month appointment

I can’t believe how fast life is going. Mayzie had her 15 month appointment this week. She passed with flying colors. Her stats were 50% height, 5% weight, and 90% head! She is so stinkin’ funny! She has the sweetest personality and already has a sense of humor. She has started doing animals sounds, kissing everything, and she loves to wrestle with Dad and Big Sister.

Here are a few of her most recent funny moments.

She held this paperclip to her head for over 5 minutes pretending it was a barrette. If it wasn’t so funny it would be sad- poor baldy!

She has discovered the candy drawer. This drawer has been on the bottom since we moved into the house. Bean never really bothered it. Mayzie just pulled most of it out and reorganized. It wasn’t until the very end that she realized what she was playing with. It has been a couple of days and she hasn’t been back. It will be interesting to see if I have to move it or is she will be like the rest of our family who ignores candy.

And so it starts…..I found her like this after two naps this week. When she starts going for the diaper- I’m grabbing the duct tape.


This is how Chip found Mayzie one morning. He used his phone so it isn’t the best pic, but it still made me laugh. I wish I could have seen how she got in there.

One of those “What was I thinking!” moments.

Poor thing has been so sick this weekend. We actually spent a couple of hours in the Urgent Care today for double ear infections. Then I had to drive all the way to the Provo Walgreen’s to fill the prescription (Gotta love Utah County on Sundays!) Hopefully she will be feeling better tomorrow.

Cute Pics of the girls

We had the girls pictures done by sugar'n'spice photopgraphy. (sugarnspicephotopraphy.blogspot.com) Jenn did a great job! The girls' individual pictures turned out fun, unfortunately we had to get the family ones redone and I haven't seen them yet. I loved the train track setting and I found a new clothing store (Naartjie) for their outfits that I'm quickly

falling in love with.

I absolutely LOVE her little lone snaggle tooth!

I couldn't get the other sweet pic of Mayzie loaded so instead one of the many "Why are you doing this to me Mama!" pictures.

Blakeslie was quite the model for most of the pictures.

I love my Beauty Queens!

Disney on Ice

We went to Disney on Ice last week and had an amazing time. Through a comedy of errors we ended up on the front row. (Right next to Andrei Kirilenko's wife and kids.) This turned out to be such a blessing because the show, that close up, even held Mayzie's attention. She sat in my lap the entire time and didn't even wiggle. She just kept pointing and Oooohing and Ahhhhing. It is so fun to watch the girls get excited about things. Does anybody else get teary eyed when you know they are so happy? It is also funny to me how young Mayzie recognizes the Princesses and Mickey and Minnie -

I think it will be a Disney Christmas.

(Mayzie is too busy pointing at the Cotton Candy Guy in all the pictures. She did eventually get to try the stuff and decided she loved it! )

Little Funny - When I wore this new grey sweater the first time Blakeslie said, "Oh Mom, I just love your new bathrobe!" I didn't know if I should go out of the house or not. :0)

Hard Day

First I have to apologize. I know not everyone that reads our blog is LDS so this isn’t going to make a lot of sense. I am lamenting about going to my last Young Women activity. I am being released from my 2 ½ year calling as the Young Women’s second counselor. I can’t explain why I am sad about this. I should be relieved. It will be the first time in almost 5 years that Chip and I will have our Tuesday nights back. He served in YM for 2 years, then we both served in YM/YW for a year and a half (This was really tricky because we had to either bring the kids or pay for a sitter), and now I’ve been in there alone for a year. Anyway, I’m sad. I am really going to miss the girls and the ladies I have worked with. I have learned so much from everyone. Our president, Julie, is seriously the most amazing lady. It stresses me to even think about what she juggles and accomplishes while making it all look easy. I am so grateful for working with her and watching how she has managed and guided our youth. Ilene, my beehive advisor, is someone I can only hope to become. She taught our girls almost every Sunday and I know her lessons were actually for me. She teaches with so much love and is very dynamic. Her words of wisdom will guide me my entire life. Yvonne has taught me ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE! That woman is a pro and has a real talent for managing situations. One can only aspire to acquire her talent. Annie taught me patience (4 kids under 4). She also taught me how to manage the YW in a stern, but loving way. Whenever things got a little rowdy we looked to Annie to settle it down. It always worked and the girls loved her the most. Laura is an inspiration on perspective and has made me feel the best about leaving. She has many fun and good ideas and I very much value her opinion in style and method. Dallas is a good time! She was the most fun with the girls and I also learned how to take a few extra seconds to make ordinary things look beautiful. Nothing I could say would explain how much I have loved working with my girls. They are all amazing and I have watched some of them turn from cute little girls to beautiful young ladies. I am so proud of all of them and I’m grateful for their friendships.

I’m not sure why I felt like I had to write this. I guess I needed to express these thoughts and maybe now that I’m done I am feeling a little better. I know this calling and release were inspired, but change is never easy. However, it does seem pretty ridiculous to be this heartbroken about loosing my very time consuming, volunteer job, but I have LOVED IT! I guess now it is onto new adventures, which like in anything is VERY scary! Where will they put me now!!!!!

Catch up on October

October is my favorite month. There are so many fun holiday/fall things to do, the weather is perfect and nothing beats baseball season. Here is a quick catch up of our month.

Painted Lady Butterflies
In the summer we got a butterfly pavilion and did the whole caterpillar to butterfly thing. Blakeslie absolutely loved it. It actually inspired her Halloween costume. We were walking in the mall and she shouted, “Look a painted lady butterfly!” We had to get the costume and we got another set of caterpillars to watch during October. She was so funny as the caterpillars grew because she would ask all the time, “When are my capitillars going to turn into raccoons.” She had a great time putting on her costume and making sure her Painted Ladies knew she looked just like them.

(I highly recommend doing this. We had so much fun watching and waiting for our butterflies. Bean took it to show and tell at school at every stage. If anyone is interested you can buy the pavilion and caterpillars from http://www.insectlore.com/ It is a fun adventure!)

We had a great time going to all the fun fall activities around the valley. Our favorites were the scarecrow festival, Cornbelly’s and Gardner Village

to see the witches.

My Funny Kidos
Blakeslie woke up one day and was just not feeling well. It never really turned into much, but I knew she wasn’t great when she told me to call her teacher to tell her she wasn’t making it to school. She also took a 4 hour nap. She spent a lot of the day just hanging out in our bed. Once when I went into check on her this is where I found her bowl. I couldn’t resist taking a picture.

When we decorated our spooky Halloween house Mayzie was more interested in the box. She kept putting it on her head so Chip finally helped her out and cut a spot for her eyes. She wore it all night and Chip started calling her

“Box Vader.”

We did a little Halloween party for Bean’s friends. We had a great time and Bean was so cute about getting excited about the games and treats. It made it all worth it.

Halloween was great. We had Blakeslie’s school party and then went to Omniture for the biggest party in the valley – thanks Scott! The kids had a great time there. We ran home to have our annual Halloween dinner with mummy hotdogs before trick-or-treating around the circle. Mayzie actually got it more than I thought she would. I let her eat her candy as we went so she was very excited to knock at the doors.

Mr. Incredible, Tough Girl and Captain Wimpy Pants

Well we had an adventure the other day, and everyone involved ended up with nicknames.
Chip and Bean were wrestling and she hit her tooth on her bed and pushed it back. There was a lot of blood and tears, but thanks to Chip everything was under control. Blakeslie was named Tough Girl, because she really did take it all like a champ. Chip’s new name is Mr. Incredible for keeping calm and saving the day. Chip really earned his name when not only did he have to take care of Bean, but also his pathetic excuse for a wife and mother…..I passed out! Seriously, during the commotion of Chip pulling her tooth back in the right position (terrible sound!) and the smell of warm blood I fainted. I woke up to Chip telling my Dad, “I gotta go your daughter just passed out!” and Blakeslie crying again (I think I scared her when I fell over and hit the floor.) While Bean and I laid in my bed, both recovering, she deemed me Captain Wimpy Pants. I earned it! My Dad has assured me that if I had been alone I would have been fine and the adrenaline would have made me alert to help her. I sure hope so or I’m terrified of what might have happened. I have never been queasy around blood, it was so strange!



I have decided to go to Boise for the weekend so that my Dad can look at Bean’s tooth. It is still bothering her. I hope it doesn’t turn dark or have to be pulled. I guess the toothless grins are always cute. She would just have hers for while.

I realized I have never shown a picture of Bean’s Bed.

This further shows how much Chip is Mr. Incredible. I found a bed similar to this on the internet. Within 3 weeks he had this finished product without any plans or measurements – he is amazing!!!

Beach House

We had a great time at the Beach House. This time I was only alone for a few days. The weather was perfect. In the morning while the marine layer burned off we would hang inside working on crafts while Mayzie napped. Then it was out to play in the sand and waves. It was great to have friends from home visit and it was really fun to hang with the Mortensens for a couple of days.

This is Blakeslie showing you her scrapped elbow and the “cliff” she backed off. We were so lucky she didn’t get hurt worse. I had to wake her up during the night to make sure she didn’t have a concussion because she was very lethargic and threw-up. Of course, it happened while I was alone. :0(

On Sunday we even a BBQ at the Cabana with some very dear friends we hadn’t seen in almost 5 years. They were all Chip’s old college roommates and it was wonderful to catch up.



Mayzie screaming to get her s’more back – that girl already loves chocolate!

We all had a great time at Sea World. Blakeslie’s favorite part was the dolphin show and getting soaked! Mayzie squealed all day and especially loved the penguins – she DID NOT like getting soaked.



Blakeslie just said today…”I want to go back to the beach house.” Me too!

Orlando!

What a trip! It was all I was hoping for and more. We really had an amazing time on our Magical Disney Vacation. For anyone that doesn’t know I love Disney World. I was more excited to be there than any other kid in the parks. We grew up going there on family trips and now it was awesome being able to take my kiddos.

The first four days were very relaxing – it was just my parents, the girls, Erin and I (Troy and Chip got there on Friday). We just relaxed by the pools (which were amazing – giant pirate ships, slides, squirting water everywhere!) ate breakfast on the balcony, shopped at Downtown Disney, went out to dinner, and Erin and I started our Twilight series books (She was reading Breaking Dawn and I was reading Eclipse – Love it!!!)


Once the boys got there it was anything but relaxing! We went like crazy – we got up early to be at the parks when they opened (9 AM) and stayed until they closed (8 PM – 11PM). We did a lot of walking. The longest day we walked was 27,551 steps, which would have been a little over 13 miles. We did this on one of our adult days where we made history – all 4 Disney parks in one day! We had a blast park hopping and riding all the big guy rides.

My most favorite day by far was the day everyone went to Magic Kingdom.

We started our day with a princess breakfast in Cinderella’s Castle! This was without a doubt the highlight of my entire trip. I actually got teary eyed when Blakeslie was meeting Cinderella. Bean was in absolute heaven and it was all so real and magical to her. We were also lucky because all the big princess were there for breakfast too. I had totally prepared myself that we may have ugly stepsisters, Mary Popins, Alice in Wonderland etc., because you never know who will be available at that time. We got all the headliners! The materdee was even excited for us because he said, “You get Ariel, with legs, that never happens! The castle was so beautiful and we were so lucky to be there – the food was really good too.

The magic continued throughout the day. We were able to be part of one of the parades that went down Main Street.


We also loved watching the big parade. Mayzie just sat and squealed like crazy at everything that passed by.

Blakeslie loved all the rides. She even got to steer the Jungle Cruise. She was so serious. Afterward, she said, “I didn’t even hit anything!” I don’t think she looked at anything on the ride she was concentrating so hard not to crash. She also loved all the big rides – She is just like her Dad, a thrill seeker. When she rode Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain she was so proud that she did it “none handed.”





We also played into the whole pictures and autograph thing with the characters. Blakeslie loved it – especially meeting her favorite princess again this time with her flipper!

We spent a couple of days at Universal Studios and Island of Adventures with just the 4 of us. It was so fun! Erin described it perfectly, “It has more thrills, but less magic.” We loved riding all the roller coasters and because the lines were non existent we rode our favorites 4 or 5 times in a row.

We took the girls back to Universal Studios to see all the fun stuff. I couldn’t resist buying them the Thing 1 & Thing 2 shirts. Blakeslie is obsessed with anything Dr. Seuss so her Favorite part was Dr. Suess land in Island of Adventures. She kept calling Mayzie thing 2 all day.

We spent a day at Typhoon Lagoon Water Park. It is a massive park with a wave pool, slides, tube rides, lazy river, and even water roller coasters. We all loved it.

One evening Chip, Troy and Blakeslie went to Tampa Bay to see the Rays play the Yankees. They had a great time at the amazing field that even had a sting ray tank where they could feed and pet the rays. Erin and I opted to stay home and have dates with Edward and go to bed early.


The girls loved Animal Kingdom, MGM and Epcot too. The highlights at Animal Kingdom were Pocahontas’s autograph and picture, It’s Tough to be a Bug and the new Finding Nemo Musical.


At MGM Blakeslie loved the HSM show and the new Toy Story Mania ride is one of the neatest rides out there. (We had a Disney Miracle when one of the workers unexpectedly took us to the front of the 90 minute wait. It was the only ride with a wait since it was so new.)

The girls didn’t spend a lot of time at Epcot but Blakeslie loved Imagination (she’s my girl) Soarin’ and Test Track.

We did go out one night just the adults. We had to get a professional sitter – Ouch! Anyway, we saw the Cirque de Soleil show La Nouba. It was awesome and it was so great to just go out as adults.

I’m so glad we were able to go on this incredible trip. We were so exhausted by the end, but it was worth it! I’m so very grateful for my parents. They were so good to us to let us go out and leave the kiddos. They said they had fun, but I know it was a lot of work for them too. Thanks Mom and Dad!

P.S. I’m a Disney Freak!!!