Welcome to The North Poll

A Happy Little Surprise

2012-02-09T12:51:00.004-07:00

A little over a month ago, Jeff said we should go down to the Winger's where my sister works for lunch. We did, and my lovely sis Jaimie helped me serve him up a little side...

I thought it was a really fun idea, but he said he saw the baby stuff before. :( I should have warned Jaimie, cause when I passed her the stuff non-chalantly, she couldn't just walk away non-chalantly. It was still fun though.

It was a looooong 4 weeks waiting for our first ultrasound. I know we're not totally out of the woods yet at 10 weeks, but the last time we had an 8wk appointment, it was already very clear that something was wrong, so I felt like if I just saw a heartbeat and our baby actually measured right, I'd be so reassured. We went in for an ultrasound (with a totally new doc again - my old new doc was on maternity leave, boo) Jan 31st. I was just so nervous, and Jeff wasn't until we got there, then he felt nervous too. We were the last appointment, so we had to wait quite awhile in our room, which didn't help.
We talked with our nurse awhile, then the doctor, and then finally went in to look for a baby. When she first started looking, she just kept looking... and looking... and we were starting to get really nervous. Finally, she angled it right and told me that I had a tilted uterus, which was making it hard to see the baby from there, but she found it, and right away we saw the strong heartbeat. She also said the sac looked good, which was one of our indicators of miscarriage before, so it was nice to hear her mention that. It was tough to get a perfect measurement with the positioning right now, but what she got said just shy of 8 wks, so we looked right on track, and kept the due date of Sept. 10th.

Yeah, I had to circle the baby exactly, since it was very hard to see. (If you click the picture, it will enlarge.) We historically get great ultrasounds, but I've read that a formerly normal uterus can tilt after a delivery, so that's what I believe happened after Lisie.

As you may be able to tell, we are still a bit apprehensive, but we are beyond so excited (and terrible at keeping secrets.) We have been trying for this baby for over a year, essentially, and we couldn't be more thrilled. I have been very very very nauseated with this baby, and even threw up, which was a first for me. Plus, I haven't had any back pain like usual, so I have let myself hope for a boy... just a little. 3 girls would be really fun, though, too.
Speaking of nausea, I have still only been losing weight this whole pregnancy, but (the waistband only on) my pants are already getting tighter. It's pretty early, but I guess it all pops out a little more quickly when everything is pre-stretched. It's really strange to see the number on the scale keep falling, and simultaneously having to pack away pants that are too small.
Of course, if you know anything about my former pregnancies, both were almost 2-3 weeks early, and yes, my anniversary just happens to be 12 days before that due date. I'm really (selfishly) hoping for a non-anniversary baby on this one... I'd even be willing to carry a baby for a full 40 weeks! ;) It really puts the kibosh on this year's 5 year anniversary plans, as we have no idea when we'll go. But, seriously, I'm not complaining - we're just glad for the opportunity! We know we are so blessed, and of course I'll keep you posted!

Miscellaneousness

2012-02-09T11:53:00.003-07:00

I always think I should update the blog, but when I think what to write, I'm always blank. Now that we've had a few actual events that I want to blog about, all the other little things are popping to mind, so this is just a little catch up of all the little-in-betweeny-thingys we've been up to!

First off, we had at least 3 three solid weeks (but really, probably 4) of rotating illnesses. We're talking round and round of colds, pink eye, sore throats, ear infections, and the flu, between the four of us. Jeff was awesome and took some days off when I was totally beyond help, and I got some days off too. He was so great at stepping in and being Mr. Mom, letting me sleep tons and doing everything for us. I'm so blessed to have him! (Gotta be honest - glad we're out of those woods... it was absolutely miserable.)

Also, this last weekend, we got to attend my cousin Jeff's live endowment session at the Bountiful temple. It was really great! I've never been there, and I love seeing new temples. Also, I love to do sessions with family, and I got to sit with my mom, Aunt Teri, cousin Jenny and cousin/more like an aunt Karen. AND, I got to be there for Jeff's first time. Triple bonus! OK, add a night out just adults, and make that a quadruple bonus. Thanks, Jaimie, for the long night of babysitting!! You rock!

We had Stake conference this past week (we always have it super bowl sunday.) We always set up in the nursery, turn on the speaker, and it's win-win for everyone. I didn't bring our usual church activity bag, cause we never need it there. When we got there, however, the nursery was all locked up... bad news bear. We couldn't even find another kid-friendly place that still had the audio piped in, so we hit the stage, hoping being in the very back would at least reduce the amount of people we bothered. The girls were miraculous! I'm definitely not saying they were all quiet and perfectly behaved, but they did much better than we anticipated. I think we were both ready to take the girls home at the first sign of trouble, but we ended up staying the whole 2 hrs, and I even got to listen to a bit of talk here and there! Thank goodness for snacks and programs to draw on.

Later that day, we went to Grandma Barbie's house out in Grantsville, where they have a big super bowl party every year (we haven't been for a couple years.) There were tons of great food of course, and it was actually a pretty quiet and relaxing night. We love getting together with the family.

Lastly, (except it happened first among these events) I wanted to mention our New Beginnings program. I was sick, but I was speaking, so I just grabbed lotgs of cough drops and stuck it out. I wanted to talk about it because, A) I love love love Young Women's in general and I am enjoying my time in there. But also B) because we did some things that I thought were really fun. Our main theme was light, focusing on this year's theme of "Arise and shine forth that thy light may be a standard for the nations." We had luminaries, gave each of the girls a crystal/prism necklace and at the end, we set off sky lanterns. I've always wanted to do that! We had one scary firey moment, but otherwise, I thought it was magical! I love the program, plus the bonus of all the fun things we get to do.

Amie Jo

2012-01-09T22:38:00.003-07:00

I have had too many precious moments lately with my little Amelie to let them pass by unnoted. She has turned into the sweetest little lovie dovie in the past weeks. She is always coming for snuggles, always giving kisses and hugs, caressing your face, or sounding overcome with joy at your presence. It is so adorable, and I can't help but wrap my arms around her twenty times a day! She gets distressed when someone leaves without her giving kisses or hugs, and will even say things like, "Mom, you're not snuggling me enough!" I can't live without her!

Her new-found bossiness, on the other hand... It seems no one knows how to play exactly right, the way she does! Love you girl.

Acceptance is the first step...

2012-01-04T17:28:00.002-07:00

A doll collection...
Note the tiny dolls and magnets as well.

I think it's time to admit that we have a problem.

Still green for the 2011 holidays!

2012-01-02T22:54:00.005-07:00

We celebrated Christmas sporadically with all the family members not in California. We had at least 4 or 5 other present opening sessions. (Today Amelie told me she wanted to do more presents... I think she was getting used to that fun activity!) There was my sweet new phone from Jaimie, then princesses and dvd players from grandma Chris, then trip cash from my grandma Doris. We did a random cousin present, then finally, our last gift exchanges on New Years' Eve and Day x2.
Christmas felt different this year - there was no snow anywhere to be seen (here or CA) and then being at Disneyland of course. We didn't even have lights on our Christmas tree or house this year! But, really, it was a great one and we made some great memories. We are greatly blessed and loved, as was evident in our Christmas overall - presents, activities, experiences, people.

New Year's Eve was split between our families. I wanted to spend time with my inlaws, but didn't feel up to bowling with my two girls that late at night (even if they weren't sick!) so I hung out at my family's for a bit, celebrated New York New Year with them, then met up with the Norths at my MILs house. There were loads of foods everywhere I went, and of course, I partook. (I feel kinda sick just thinking about it.) We played Clue and Yahtzee, Lise learned to blow a noise maker, while Amelie slept almost the whole time. At my inlaws, we watched Soul Surfer, Jeff joined us just a few minutes before the New Year, and Amie learned to blow the noise maker while Alisa pretty much slept the whole time. We also still had sicky girls.

I love hanging out with family, especially for special occasions. Stay tuned for our goals and hopes for this year!

A Green, Green Christmas!

2011-12-31T09:28:00.014-07:00

I don't know why it was so important, but I really wanted to get Christmas on the blog during the right year... so here it is, not a day too soon!

You may know that since last Christmas, my family (at Dad's request) has been planning a trip to Disneylad for Christmas time. We had a year to plan, but you know how these things sneak up on ya, and things got a little crazy there for awhile trying to work out lodging, etc, but we made it happen with only minor bumpage. We (19 of us) ended up staying at Jeff's and my condo in two 2-bedroom units. It was actually very comfortable (and great if you ask me,) not to mention we were within walking distance of Disney and could see the parks and fireworks from the rooftop viewing deck. The weather was absolutely perfect while we were there, ranging from about 62 to 72 on Christmas day. We all drove in at seperate times, everyone arriving sometime between 9a.m. and 10 p.m. We left in the middle of the night when Jeff got home from work so that the girls would be asleep for a lot of it. They were, and it was awesome! I way over-prepped with snacks and activities - they were great on the drive in! (This is greatly due to the Christmas gift of a dual screen portable DVD player - thanks again Chris!) We arrived before check in and had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory next door, then explored while we waited. There wasn't much room in the second bedroom of our unit when we got it, so my parents graciously gave us the master room so we'd have room for our whole family of 4. We all just hung out that night, watched fireworks and settled in. (Oh and did I mention that my brother's car was in an accident on the way there? Luckily none of them were hurt and the car drove there fine.)

The next day, we'd planned on going to see sites around LA, but never got going in the morning. Half the crew left to go see a taping of Jay Leno (well, they waited in line, but never got in,) so Jeff and I headed with the girls to see Downtown Disney. We wandered, played in the Lego Store and got Mickey shaped treats at the chocolate store (so yum!) We couldn't ride the monorail, which was lamezor, the girls would have loved that. That night, we plus Mel & Jason, Ricky, and Jaimie all went to dinner at a restaurant called Anaheim White House, while grandma and grandpa stayed with the grandkids. It was a valet-only, many dollar signs kinda joint. I don't know WHAT was in the water at that place, but we had a great time! We were laughing our heads off the entire time. I can only allude to the greatness through the following phrases... that's the way fur coat granny does it!... Cholo... accents in such a way... and cucumber coke.

Wednesday we picked up Mal from the airport (late) and then actually headed out to LA. We went first to Grauman's Chinese theater, saw some handprints and the walk of fame, then ate lunch next door at Hard Rock Hollywood. From there, we headed up to get some pics with the Hollywood sign, which was a big highlight for all of us for some reason. We also saw the Pantages, Kodak theater and a thousand terrible rip-offs of characters that wanted you to pay them for a photo op. We ate in that night.

Thursday we woke up to crazy winds of death, and headed to our Surf's Up character breakfast with Mickey and Friends at a hotel. Breakfast was a buffet and so good, it lasted us breakfast and lunch. Sis still hated the big scary characters, so she got a red balloon to warn them to stay away from her. The other kids had a blast seeing the characters, dancing and surfing with them, getting hugs and fives, and Amelie especially loved getting their signatures in her little princess notebook. Our waiter was super lame, and included a huge gratuity for himself, which most of us did not pay in full.

From there, we all headed out to Santa Monica pier and played in the sand. Mel and her crew saw dolphins - so jealous! The water was ice so most of us didn't stay in, but made sand creations, took walks, gathered sea shells, walked the pier. And of course dad had to get some seafood.

That night we headed to Medieval Times dinner theater, which we love, and got a sweet deal on. Our knight was good, he almost won. He threw both Jaimie and Amelie a flower - she totally loved that. It was a great night... right up until Sissy puked on me... twice. Awesome! That was only the beginning of our sickness woes, which still continue a week later.

Friday was our Disney day! We all only bought one day, so that made me content with going to just one park. Less things to miss out on. Jeff, Mal, the girls and I walked to the park so we didn't have to pay for parking. The park was full but not over-crowded. Once in awhile we saw a 60 or 75 min line, but more frequently waited 20 or 30. We started out with the Princess Faire that they have, where we saw Tiana, Ariel and Jasmine, then went and danced with Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. Lise was a little scared again, but Amelie was absolutely in love. It was one of my highlights, and definitely hers. Jeff also took Amie on her first roller coaster in Mickey's Toontown, and she actually loved it (so did he.) We hit all the big rides in various groupings of family members, and my parents were awesome about taking the kids so we could go on big kid rides.

Hitching a ride with Papa!

Peek-a-boo!

The fireworks were cancelled that night due to "unforeseen complications" but they had great lights and we were told they still had snow during the normal fireworks time.

One of my favorites was the Haunted Mansion, which was completely redecorated to be Nightmare Before Christmas. Other highlights include Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain and the Matterhorn. Around 7ish, everyone decided we were pretty beat, and most everyone headed home, mom and the sibs taking our kids home in the car. Jeff, Mal, Rick and I stayed to go on the Matterhorn and then walked back. It was a super short line, so we could have gotten home the same time as them, but we decided to have a date and ate dinner at Fire and Ice. (M and R stayed for Fantasmic.)

Fire and Ice was great, a choose-your-own, cooked-in-front-of-you kind of buffet. We stopped in the chocolate store to buy some thank you's for those hauling our kids home. When we got there, we discovered that our stroller fell out of their trunk because it couldn't shut (that thing is a beast.) They searched and searched, but someone must have picked it up quick, cause it was no where to be found. It was sorta sad to lose our double stroller, but it was kinda dying anyway, and we have 2 single strollers. Mostly, I'm sad we lost Amie's signature book that was in the pocket, but you can believe this mama is recreating that! Over the course of the day, we also lost both of our sunglasses as well as Jeff's phone. Lost and Found didn't have any of them - greedy little people!

On the morn of Christmas Eve, we were all too beat from a long Disney day to get up and go anywhere.

Most of us went down to the pool to take advantage of the great weather (and hot tubs!)

Sis's contribution to the photography:

In the Eve, we all gathered for lots of good finger foods and to see the kids' program. Stacey came up with the ideas, and Jaimie wrote it out for them. She helped them practice and everything, and then got Soooooo sick, so Mal stepped in and helped them perform it. It was about a little orphan Larissa (Lisie) getting the last present of Christmas and becoming one of Santa's elves. It was the darn cutest program I ever saw (my favorite part was when Santa [Stacey] got stuck in the chimney, so the Elf [Amie] got her out with butter. The boys were reindeer.)

Notice anything funny about this picture?

Christmas Day, we all opened presents in our room, then had a late, big old breakfast while we lazed about for awhile.
Our cutie tree!

Stockings hung by the... cupboards with care.

Playing with all their Princess presents.

We had wanted to go somewhere nice for dinner that day, and decided to try Fire and Ice again, but it was closed. Almost everything around there was also closed, so we headed over on foot to downtown Disney (carrying our girls - bleh.) Place after place had either a 2 hr wait or was $50/plate. We finally settled on a little burger place that was more of an outside bar just because they had no wait. Food was good, though over-priced, and then we headed home. Jeff graciously ran and got the car for me and the sleepy/crabby girls and Ricky to ride home in.

The next day was just basically pack up and leave. We got a fairly good start time, but got a bit lost in the beginning, then Alisa threw up in the car. Once we finally got cleaned up and on the right track, we hit terrible stop-and-go traffic which lasted the entire duration of our drive while in California, and some of Nevada. The girls were awake (and sick) for this drive, so it was not nearly as pleasant. Not to mention instead of 11 hours, it took us 14.5. We didn't roll into home until 2 a.m. (Luckily my dear sister Mal came and turned up the heat in our house, so it was warm when we got there.) The sad news is, we also forgot to assemble Santa presents before we left, but we'd told the girls he left gifts at our house, so we had to put those up before we went to sleep that night.

Overall the trip was awesome! It was a great (and exhausting) week, which could only have been better if we were all healthy.

Amelie's First Performance!

2011-12-01T10:23:00.005-07:00

Amelie has been in a performing group this season. It's not just a dance technique class, but a little singing and dancing group. At first, she really struggled with staying in class, but that passed pretty quickly. She has also had some difficulty focusing and participating in class (I mean, she wasn't even 3 when she started...) I wondered if she was ready and deliberated over keeping her in, switching to gymnastics, and waiting altogether. Obviously, we stuck with it and she has come to adore her class and teacher, Missy. Now that Christmas is here, they have a LOT of performances. The first was this past Monday at a nursing home. It was totally up in the air whether she'd actually dance or just sit there. Turns our she was somewhere in the middle. Here are a few shots of the (most adorable!) performance.

Playing games pre-performance with teacher Missy.
Yeah, that's Amie in front wandering to find her mark.
Jingle Bell Twisting it up!

"where are we supposed to go?"
Yeah, still not there, Amie... :)

Here is a (very low-quality) video, so you can witness for your very own, the intermittent staring and dancing.

So cute!!!

Thanksgiving 2011!

2011-11-29T12:28:00.005-07:00

Jeff knew he'd be working for all the Thanksgiving festivities, so he requested that we do a turkey dinner when he was home on Wed. night. I asked him his requirements and made just what he asked... I knew we'd have tons of leftovers anyway. We had turkey (a roast - don't judge, I've made great whole turkeys before!) corn, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cresent rolls (with things we were thankful for written and rolled up inside... I don't recommend this) and apple pies. (I saw a recipe for pie IN the apple with a little crust on top... It was fun and tasty, but I like the real thing, too.) It was fun to cook just for our little family, I enjoyed doing the whole dinner myself, but I do love having everyone around. After dinner, we had some really sweet family dancing time together. It was a lovely little family evening.

This year, our family/in-law schedule is getting all sorts of mixed up. This is usually the year we would go to Jeff's family for actual Thanksgiving, but two things happened - first, my uncle's family (only ones not here in UT) was able to come for the holiday, and second, Jeff had to work during his family's dinner. Also, BOTH dinners happened to be at the exact same time. I had fully intended to get to both, but they started and ended at the exact same time, and an hour away from each other. I did not make it happen, I totally lamed out. I spent the whole day with my family in Ogden. We had a great time - the food is always great, there is always tooons extra, and the after/hangout time is always so fun. We actually had a little family drama this year during picture time, which is pretty unusual for us, at least on that scale, but all is well. I really enjoyed hanging out with some of the cousins I don't normally spend a lot of time with. (And, we kids gave our parents the Christmas gift we got them - plane tix so they won't have to drive to our CaliChristmas! That was fun.)

The next day (well, that night) I hit a few sales to get the key items I was planning on - I got all of them! (A teensy bike for Lisie, a chalkboard easel, and a kid's table.... among other secret things.) It did require a lot of waking when I shoulda been sleeping, but you know me - I am always glad to score a good deal. (Got a sweet cyber Monday discount, too.) One of the places I went (IKEA) didn't open til 10am, so I was there for when my inlaws have their shopping time, then I was already halfway to my parents, so didn't wanna drive back up for lunch (plus I was broke) and for their movie, Jeff was working and I had the girls. Lamed out for my in-laws 2 days in a row.
It's always been a Radcliffe tradition that Friday we hang out and put up the Christmas tree. My parents got a GIANT one that we decked out pretty quickly, and then... that's right, had my third Thanksgiving dinner of the week. If I had known, I probably would have juggled around my Thurs schedule... hindsight. Then I did some fun and random shopping with my sis, Jaimie (I didn't spend!) I just can't get enough of hanging out, low key with my family - I would do it everyday!

A Day at Home

2011-11-12T13:17:00.003-07:00

I thought it would be fun to chronicle what a typical day looks like at our house these days.

Fridays, I work in the morning, but every other day of the week begins with Jeff and I waiting until the girls get us out of bed, anywhere between 730 and 930. We require pottying, clothes and breakfast before the TV goes on, and leave it off altogether when we can. Alisa takes her nap right about lunchtime everyday, and has finally gotten to the point where she is often happy to go and sleep.
Amie usually gets some one on one play time, or gets creative on her own while mom makes lunch gets something done. Dad gets ready for work and leaves after lunch time.
When Lisie wakes up, we'll go to a park, or we often head to Discovery Gateway while dad's away - we have a membership and it's one of the girls' favorite places. We might even ride the Trax to get there, another little girl favorite.
After coming home, we have dinner - often a series of snacks with two toddlers, probably watch a movie, then clean up the toys before we start the rest of bedtime. Our bedtime routine sometimes starts with a bath, then jammies. Brushing teeth (we have to get really creative to make this happen!) is followed by story time - each girl gets to pick out one book, or more if they've been especially good. We say prayers (even Lisie!) and then do singing. We have a main lullaby we have sung to them every night since before they were born, but lately Amelie has been picking out other songs to sing before bed, too. Faves are Twinkle Twinkle, Old MacDonald, Row Row Row Your Boat, or other Nursery songs. After or during singing, we do tucks, where we have to tuck-a-feet, and kisses. We have to leave the door open, too. Amie will ask for something every night (drink, food, potty, book, flashlight, tucks,) but she is getting better - only one request last night.
After kid bedtime, anytime from 8:30-9:30 while we're still adjusting to Daylight Savings,) mom cleans some more, gets things ready for tomorrow, reads and texts dad. Dad comes home at midnight, usually winding down with a video game or show.

Variances from this schedule are Sundays, where we spend the evening with family, Tuesday mornings we go to Amelie's dance class, Wednesday nights I go to Mutual, and when dad's off, we spend lots of great lazy time together. I'm trying to enjoy that, as life has been picking up speed.

Giving Thanks

2011-11-07T11:17:00.009-07:00

I wanted to do the 30 days of thanks, but for some reason didn't want to do it on facebook. Maybe cause I don't get on every single day, or maybe because I want to actually remember them. Either way, they ended up here. I've just been adding and here's the whole month for your enjoyment... (or, let's be honest - for my records!)

I am grateful for:

Nov. 1 - an amazing, healthy body that can heal itself
2 - planning ahead and feeling like a rockstar when you're prepared
3 - flexibility!
4 - people willing to help
5 - time with such fun extended family
6 - modern technology (i.e. my carbon monoxide alarm, free Poison Control hotline) in ALL its many forms
7 - My lovely Grandmother Doris! She is too sweet and never forgets anything that has to do with her family. Happy Birthday Grandma!
8 - a working car!
9 - productive bursts of energy
10 - free ways to spend free time with my little lovies
11 - HEAT! (and a brother in law that made it happen)
12 - over the counter painkillers, and modern medicine in general
13 - awesome family, always willing to step in!
14 - a most awesome husband, who never ceases to amaze me with all he is willing to do for me
15 - opportunities
16 - Being able to be a part of the amazing Young Women's program!
17 - motivation
18 - adequate sleep
19 - crafty/thrifty ingenuity
20 - opportunities to sing!! and the ability to
21 - family time
22 - a house that's ours
23 - a fun job with so much flexibilty in it's ability to bring in extra monies
24 - re-connecting... and, let's face it, good food!
25 - sweet deals, you know to feed my #19
26 - Music! real, honest-to-goodness, uplifting music
27 - friends and special events to celebrate
28 - Christmastime and holidays in general!
29 - self-reliance - this is one of my biggies
30 - The temple!!

Halloween!

2011-11-04T12:27:00.007-06:00

This year was another year where we managed to pack in so much Halloween celebration that I was ready for it to be over when the actual day rolled around. (I decided to ditch half the parties next year... I was way too tired for that to be worth it again.) You've heard already about the Witch weekend we did, and here are all of the rest of the festivities:

Thursday 27th: Witchapalooza!
There is a witchy dinner show that they put on at Gardner Village, I went with all the ladies of Jeff's family (Grandmas Barbie and Lola, aunts Sheri and Tonya, cousins Marcie, Kaycee, Lindsee, Taycee, and Steph and Chris.) It was hilarious! I really enjoyed the Taming of the Brew. (And I think I was the only one who enjoyed my entire dinner of roast beef, potatoes, broccoli, carrots and some pumpkiny dessert. Lots of picky eaters in Jeff's family! (Luckily not Jeff... as much.)

Saturday 29th:
This was the looooong day that really did me in. Alisa was her best post-haircut Rapunzel, and I braided Amelie's hair the night before so she would be the perfect Mother Gothel. We started out the morning at Gallivan Plaza, where they do a Trick or Treat, plus activities. We got some candy, decorated cookies, pet a bunny (who bit my shoe,) llama, sheep and some kinda mini donkey, and even got a free pony ride! Alisa was not having it and wouldn't get on, but Amelie had a blast, not to mention she looked adorable with her cloak all spread out behind her.

From there, dad had to go to work, then I took the girls to Discovery Gateway (I really wanted to check it out this year while we have a membership.) They have a great party, where they girls got more prizes than candy, played games, did the hay maze and saw a puppet show - There's a Monster in my Bathtub. They loved it! But I could totally tell it was naptime after that, so we loaded into the car.
The girls slept while we drove to meet my parents and sister at a park in Eagle Mountain where they were doing Trick or Treat and a haunted house, etc. We went around for more candy, bought balloon animals and went through a very rudimentary haunted house. (Amelie had insisted, but wouldn't move once she was in! I had to carry both girls out.) We went to my mom's after that for dinner, where I just vegged (I had had quite enough of pushing the stroller for that day... and we even skipped one of the places I wanted to go!)

Sunday 30th: Poynor Family Party!
Every year, Jeff's mom's family has a big Halloween party, and this year we were lucky enough to have it close to us. Amelie had been really sick through some of the festivities, and when we pulled up to the party, she just asked to lay down and sleep, so I let her. She eventually got up but I don't think she made it into any of the pictures! We had looooots of treats, played some minute-to-win-it games (I TOtally won mine!,) pumpkin bowled and had lots of fun. Here's Jeff's and my stellar costume:
Heh? Heh?
Everyone costumed (except Amie, of course, napping.)
Jeff may or may not have lost... badly...
Uh... my face...
Purty!

Getting ready to whack the pinata!

Monday 30th: Trick or Treating in Eagle Mountain
We decided to go to my mom's again this year, as it's quite the kid-friendly neighborhood, plus it's about the only time during Halloween they get to see their Radcliffe cousins. The four of us went down (in same costumes, except Alisa - I forgot to wash her dress after the night before, and it was out of comission! She was an angel and it was ADORABLE.) My brother in law, Jason, brought their wagon which he hooked up to their 4wheeler for a sweet kid-train. This always comes in handy when you have tiny kids trick or treating. My mom, Ricky, Jaimie, Jason, Jeff and I all took the 3 little kids around (we were quite the entourage.) It wasn't too cold, no rain, and a decent candy haul. I wasn't sad to cut it off, since, as you can see, they already had stashes by then. Amelie and Alisa (and Kail) are all at the cutest ages, where they are adorable at ToT-ing, just getting it and people still dote all over them. It was fun.

Hope yours was as happy as ours! Now, bring on the turkey!

Drumroll please.......

2011-11-01T17:51:00.002-06:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, the moment you have long been waiting for!

We...

Are...

Now...

DEBT FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, maybe you haven't been anticipating this moment for something like 5 years, but we sure have! We like to think of ourselves as pretty savvy with our dollars, and definitely not nonchalant debt-accruers, nevertheless we had accumulated a fair amount of debt. Really, it's kinda miraculous that we've paid off as much as we did in the time that we have.

I had one small school loan from my study abroad, we bought a car, doc bill after doc bill (especially for Alisa's birth after an insurance debaucle,) my ring, Jeff's Best Buy account, and various little things. When you put all of it together, it was probably near $20,000! It made me sick when we first sat down and calculated that number. I heard the average American carries $20,000 in debt and I thought that was crazy! But, think $5000 for a car, $5000 for 2 births, $3000 for school... it adds up quick! We even emptied our savings account twice, feeling this cammandment to be out of debt most important. Over the course of our marriage (only 4 years now) we have managed to pay everything off, even though I was in grad school, Jeff went through the academy, he's STILL going to school full time, I haven't worked much, AND buying a timeshare, we still managed to get it paid before our original intended payoff date. It feels amazing! We will never ever go there again!

I know this miraculous circumstance came to us as a result of discipline, prayer and absolutely paying our tithing. I'm so grateful the Lord has helped us, and most grateful that my husband has supported this endeavor, even enough to cut down his eating out by about 90% when we got married! We sure like eating out, but not as much as having all of our balances read $0. (Except our house of course... that's next on our agenda!)

Amelie's 3rd Birthday - Strawberry Shortcake!

2011-10-24T19:20:00.025-06:00

We had Amelie's birthday party on the 15th at a park near our home. We decided somewhere along the line to go with a Strawberry Shortcake theme. (There were 2 other themes in contest, but BOTH of them were used by relations in months before, but I think it turned out just perfect for her.) Thank goodness I had lots of family help, cause you know I can't throw a party with everything bought from the store! It was a pretty good time, and I'll save you the long commentary for once, but I made up for it with a ridiculously long photo-cataloguing. Enjoy!

The Thematics:

Strawberry Shortcake!

Face Paint!

The Food:
"Raspberry Torte's Punch"

"Blueberry Muffin's Fruit Pizzas"

"Orange Blossom's Chicken"

"Strawberry Shortcake's Kabobs"

The Cake:

The Favor (cookie pops, which I completely forgot to give out until most people were long gone...):

The Pinata!:

Jeff was a trooper and held the pinata when we couldn't find anything strong enough.

The Gifts:

The Bike!:

The People:

It was weird, at the end this giant horde of seagulls came and just hovered...

Peace Gardens Photo Session

2011-10-17T16:15:00.027-06:00

Looking at the pictures on our and others' walls lately, I decided it was definitely time for some newer stuff. With Amie's birthday party, halloween festivities and especially Christmas on the horizon, there was zero budget, so I just decided to steal my brother's super-nice camera and see what we could get. My sister offered to come along so we could get a whole family portrait, and Jeff had the genius idea to go to the International Peace Gardens. We all went in knowing that we might get just what we paid for ($0), but I am more than pleased with our results. Here are the highlights.

Jeff:

Nikki:

Amelie:
She's always gotta have one!

My friend said "Childzilla?" which I thought was hilarious.

Alisa:

Combos:

Family:

I'm pretty proud of this one, seeing as we each pulled our best faces in different photos, I patched together the best ones... using Paint! That's the closest I had to any photo editing system.

Witch Weekend

2011-10-17T15:07:00.008-06:00

Witch Weekend! As you may know, every year my in-laws do a Witches Night Out weekend, with a Friday night ladies party, and Saturday night out at Gardner Village.

Friday night, my mom and sister Jaimie came over and we headed to the Witch Party. It's always a big crowd, with killer decorations! We always take some pics first, then eat soup and other halloweeny treats, then make a great halloween craft (this is the main source of my halloween decorations, and slowly growing!) This year, we made a picture holder that was adorable, and ideal for displaying witch weekend photos!

Cousins:

All In-Laws:
Norths:

Saturday, mom and sis Melissa and niece Stacey came with me, Amie and Lisie to meet the crew at IHOP for dinner. We always attract a few stares...

"One of these things is not like the others... "

Chris with all her little Rapunzel witches!

After dinner, we head to Gardner Village, (where Jaimie met up with us) where they have booths, shops, raffles, a parade, witch royalty, crazy decorations, and most importantly music and dancing! It's always a popular event, but it seemed extra crowded this year. It was weird - there were a lot of males and families there, though it's a ladies night out.

A rare after 8pm Lisie smile.
A cold break.

We had fun, but I have to admit it was a little rough for these girls. With a late night the night before, Amie's party that afternoon, and being out late that night, they struggled at times. I don't like to wish away my girlies' childhoods, but witches will be more fun when they can handle a later bedtime! Either way, we totally love it and I look forward to it every year!

Festivals!

2011-09-26T16:43:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite things about warmer weather, is the myriad of free events to enjoy. These are a few we stopped in to this month, as well as some other misfits.

The Be Well Utah fair is put on by the U and I totally look forward to it. This year, the week included one day's free entry to Red Butte Gardens, Tues. We went and got some free health information and goodies, Amie was excited that she got to meet Curious George, and of course, we got to see the gardens. Our fave was probably the pond with ducks and fish. That $.25 of food goes a long way to make little girlies happy! I was kinda hesitant to go, because free days are always overcrowded, but it didn't even feel like there were that many people there to me! I was really glad we went, we all really enjoyed the garden and exercise.

The actual Fair was on Saturday, and we went early since we had many other plans crammed into that day. There were endless booths (everything is centered in some way on wellness) giving out information and freebies. I really wanted to get my ears cleaned for free, so even though there was a long line Jeff and the girls stuck it out with me. When we finally got up there, they said my ears didn't even need it, but Jeff's did! Isn't that always the way. We got lots of pens, magnets, bags, cups, screenings, candy, baskets, aprons, books, face paint, healthier recipes and even lunch (turkey dogs, fruit, baked chips, healthy cookies, creamies) and everything was free! They had Curious George there again, along with magicians, balloon artists, music. No pics of course.

We also made it to the NAMI Walk this year. It's actually the first time I did a walk for anything! NAMI is the National Alliance on Mental Illness and they provide free services/support of all kinds to people with mental health problems. UNI (where I work) had a team there to walk, so I signed up. I did it really last minute, so I didn't raise any dollars, but Jeff and the girls even came and walked (or strollered) with me. They also had some snacks (fruit, water, bagels) for walkers, as well as some booths and the radio station. They held a raffle with SO MANY PRIZES. We sat and listened to them draw tickets for 45 minutes for prizes like gc's to Rodizio, Lagoon, Whole Foods, concerts, movies, and a billion other great things, but even with 5 tickets, we didn't get anything! Sad. It's cool, though. I enjoyed the walk, and hope to be able to do it every year. It's a cause that I really believe in and doesn't get nearly enough air time.

The other things we have been up to include cousin Stacey's birthday party. Amelie was beyond excited to go, and all 3 of us girls had fun. Amie's been obsessed with birthdays for weeks now. She asks so many times when her birthday is, that we finally had to start telling her "First is Ty's bday, then Stacey's, then Mallory's, then Papa's, then yours!" It happened so many times that she know the order, and she know that Papa is next, then it's her birthday! She tells everyone that "Someday it's gonna be my birthday" and "Someday I'm gonna be 3!" or "I'm having a strawberry birthday cake!" It's cute and exhausting (after 2 months) but she's being a good sport - she doesn't get mad or anything when it's not her birthday.

Finally, the last misfit, pictureless post-worthy item is Labor Day. We went back and forth (as always) about whether or not we would go to Delta for the little time that Jeff wasn't working. We ended up not going this time and hung out with my fam that Monday. We had lots of food and fun games, and then a fire in mom's fire bowl. By some freak accident, I burned my face with a flaming marshmallow! Though small, it was quite painful and the marshmallow stuck to my face! I had to keep cold on it for a few hours before it finally felt ok. Most of the area just peeled a little after a few days, but one small spot was a concentrated ouch-machine! I still have a little pink spot where it was and I am not sure if it will go away completely or not.

MTMMS: Double Duty

2011-09-16T15:47:00.002-06:00

#1 - Amelie has been sick with a cold last night and today. In true toddler form, she's been very short fused and whiney/crying. We're talking complete melt down with each and every single drip from her nose. Just when I thought I might roll over and die of frustration, out of nowhere she leaned her head on me and said "Mom I really like you."

#2 - The other day I was doing Amelie's hair, I sat her on the toilet facing the wall. She kept kick kick kicking the wall and finally I calmly asked her to stop. A few minutes later, she started running her shoes along the wall. When I said "please don't do that, Bug." She said "Mom, I'm making music for Jesus!"
Oh my precious!

These are the moments that make me really feel good that I kept great control of my negative emotions.

Funny Things the North's Say, 2

2011-09-06T21:26:00.004-06:00

Jeff:
- "Babe, I love that you're smart... but mostly, I love that you're football smart."

Nikki:
- In the middle of my (first) Young Women's lesson about dating "Hopefully you'll have more loose relationships."

Amelie:
- "You can be a dude, I'll be a princess."
- "Best friend!" (to every new child she meets at the park)
- At bedtime, in the rocking chair "I'll sing to you tonight." (And she did!)

Alisa:
- boo buh bull (beautiful)
- I swear she said "Dad what are you doing? You can't write that." While he was writing a response in The Game of Things. I swear!
- Everything! (she has all of a sudden started talking her little head off non-stop now. It's adorable!)

Fourth Anniversary!!

2011-09-04T20:35:00.002-06:00

It's that time again - time to dote and love on my husband. Just like my birthday, it seemed like our anniversary snuck up on us, without all the normal months of planning. We decided we would do a trip every other year, and gifts every other year. This year was a trip year, but we als took a big trip to Florida, so that had to count. Meaning, we didn't do a trip OR gifts on our actual anniversary. As the day rolled near, we had vague plans to spend some time in Park City and eat at the Melting Pot, but 2 days before, Amie and I got a nasty stomach flu. Jeff kept saying "You'd better not be sick on our anniversary!" I was still a bit subdued, but feeling just better enough. Lo and behold, as you guessed, Aug. 30th rolls around and Jeff started taking his turn with the stomach flu.

We tried to set out with our plans and headed up the canyon. We stopped in at the Olympic park and checked out the skiing museum, which was actually fun. We went from there just to meander around historic Park City. We really enjoyed looking in the art galleries and some shops. We had a late lunch (due to large breakfast) at Good Thymes, which I am sure was really good... but, we both discovered we were not up to it, so we spent a whole lot of money and took our food to go. We knew we needed low-key so we scoped out a movie theater which just happened to be showing The Help starting right then. We stopped in to see the movie (It was great!) and knew we didn't have anything left in us, so we went to pick up the kiddos. Jeff spent the rest of the day in bed.

We were both feeling better by Thursday, so we were able to get a pity babysitting from Jeff's sister and went to have our anticipated dinner at the Melting Pot. It was delicious, but rough. We hadn't been eating much in the days before that and we got so full so fast! Took home some food from there, too.

I mentioned our anniversary must be doomed - this year getting violently ill, last year my grandfather passed away, and the year before that our cruise couldn't go to Cabo because of a hurricane! Next year, we'll be sure to put in lots of planning, and take lots of vitamins...

We've come well to the point where now when I say "4 years" it doesn't seem nearly long enough. It feels like we have been together forever, and in a good way. :) I taught the lesson in Young Women's today about dating and got the chance to reflect back a lot on dating, and it just makes me even more grateful for such an amazing partner in all of life's adventures. I can not wait for dozens more!

North Family Staycation

2011-08-25T12:47:00.017-06:00

As I've mentioned before, we had some troubles with our planned vacation time with Jeff's family, so we ended up having some staycation time. We all started our plans Wed, the day that Jeff, kids and I rolled in from Delta with my fam. We met at Liberty Park for some playground and splash pad hours. We split and reconviened for dinner at Chris's (my bday dinner) where we played a new game and had a lot of loud fun!

Thursday brought us to Temple Square, picnic lunch at Gallivan, and then the Church History Museum. (Can you tell from the pics that we liked the dancing skirts the best? Hannah didn't want to dance for some reason.) We also stopped into the Library for a bit.

That night, we went up Millcreek Canyon, had a fire, and ate hot dogs and s'mores for dinner. I always love a night up the canyon! The kids did, too. (By the way, there are too many pictures, so by the time I uploaded these fire pics, there was definitely no putting them in order... sorry!)

(Did you catch it? Somewhere in those pictures, you can see evidence that Dave siphoned a soda can of gas from his car... and threw it on the fire!)

Friday, we went to Iggy's for lunch, then Discovery Gateway. We ended up buying a 6 month membership that we have already used again, more than once.

We made time to stop at the fountains afterward.

We all had dinner on our own that day, then met again that night at the Drive-In to see Smurfs and Zookeeper. That was fun, but a little hectic with so many kids.

By the end of that week, we were exhausted and we gladly did a whole lot of nothing on Saturday to recover!

Alisa 18 month update!

2011-08-25T11:46:00.007-06:00

Our little Swiss Miss is now well over a year and a half! We had her well check up a bit ago, and here are her latest stats. Her weight is 25.5 pounds, putting her in the 67th percentile, and her height (32.5 in) has her in the 74th percentile. So, she's still a bit ahead of the physical curve, but no longer way ahead... speaking of a head... hers is still 86th pc. What can you do? Alisa has been wearing 18 mo clothes now for quite awhile, and can handle one occasional 2t size now and then. She pretty much skipped an entire shoe size, and for awhile her and Amelie were sharing shoes, but Amie is just starting to grow out. I take everything - clothes, shoes, socks, swimsuits - and move them right from Amie's drawer to Lisie's. Love it.

There is a long list of the fun things Lisie is now doing. She's well beyond walking and running, and now she has some really great dance moves. One of her trademarks is a super-cute "Gake Goo" (thank you) when you give her anything. She can also help you count to three, and she's really good at "no" and now even "no way." My favorite thing she just started doing is nodding and shaking her head. She can understand you when you ask her questions, she uses them correctly, but overexaggerates them - so adorable. She repeats a lot, though, and can say many things. It's just hit and miss as to what she remembers. She can show you her feet, hands, head and nose, and we're getting there on all the other body parts. There's a song they do in the nursery that she absolutely loves, and will sing it all day long (it's the Bears in the Bed.) She loves any song with actions she can do, but rarely sings herself. Her true loves are climbing everything, slides, and anything and everything that Amie is currently playing with. She gives kisses now, too, wet ones.

She's been having a tough time with her diapers lately, and so our doc suggested we try soy milk for a week and see if it makes a difference. This is day 3, so we're still not positive if it is a milk allergy or not, but it does seem to be a bit better.

Lisie is a bit discriminating with her affections. They're very fickle and depend greatly on her mood, hunger status, fatigue level, recent memories and current circumstances. I think this is just fine - personally, I can't stand it when strangers complain about her demeanor or "crusty looks." Honestly, I'd be more worried if she ran up and gave every random person a smile and a hug and crawled in their lap. Mostly, Alisa Danielle is just fearless! She walks off edges, jumps, climbs, mounts, crawls over/under, runs around, you name it. And plenty of those times she falls, but it never deters her. We're so glad to have her and I can't wait for an eternity to come!

In other news, we moved Amie into a toddler bed a few nights ago. She loves it, but ended up sleeping with me half of the night last night, so... we'll see. She's all of a sudden developed fear of the dark, so we're still working out all the bedtime woes.

Missing July Moments

2011-08-24T15:52:00.003-06:00

As always, Jeff had a post for the 24th of July parade, but new for us, was seating reserved for police families. You can believe we took advantage of that! We didn't have to go early, we had a great view, and we even scored great parking because of where Jeff was posted! We reserved some extra seats, but no one was able to go with us. (Amie had stayed at my mom's in a brainless moment of mine, so she wasn't there.) It was just me and Lisie, and my sister Mal joined us. Here is one of the few pics I took, I know you can't really tell, but it's the Prophet, Thomas S. Monson. Awesome!
For the rest of the 24th we hung out with the family at my mom's. There was lots of food (many products of my dad's favorite toy, his smoker,) swimming, games and tons o fireworks around. People went nuts this year!

Kennecott Copper mines has a visitors' center, a movie, and fun views, and this year they hosted a free day. We went, and of course it was busier than usual, but I enjoyed not having to pay. :) Here's the fam at the giant tire.
The girls enjoyed it, as they do anywhere new that gets them out of the house.
After this, we drove around and then ate lunch at a park. Just trying to take advantage of the summer days we have left!

Flashbacks

2011-08-17T13:30:00.003-06:00

I finally snagged this pic from a friend of mine and got it into the post it belongs in.

Even though we're chunkier, I love it! I sure adore that little family of mine.

NBP #3

2011-08-14T21:04:00.003-06:00

We celebrated my birthday with the North's amidst our family staycation this year (but that will be a separate post.)
We had dinner at my mother-n-law's house of chowder and berry cake, YUM! (I just realized that's the only real cake I got for my birthday!) We hung out there and actually convinced everyone to stay and play a game for once! Jeff really wanted to buy this new game called A Game of Things... that ended up being really fun. We had lots of big (and a few inappropriate!) laughs out of it. I got some sweet cizz-ash and The Help for my birthday (I already finished it, So good!)
Then, my bro-in-law, Josh, usually takes the birthday person in question out to eat, so he and our little fam all went to Texas Roadhouse for a delish lunch.

Finally, my present from my sweet Jeffy was a ticket to see Josh Groban! I have missed his concerts so many times, and I swore I wouldn't let him come and go again without seeing him. When the tour first popped up, tickets were over $100 for nosebleeds, and I thought for awhile I would have to miss it for sure. Then, prices came down and my friend Jessica was going, so Jeff gave her the dollars to get us two seats together, for my bday present. I finally got to go see Josh Groban in concert last night, and I have to say, despite years of anticipation, he did NOT disappoint! It was kind of unreal, how his voice was the same, and even better, in person. That man can sing! He even had a mini stage in the back, so we got a closer look at him even though we were so far away. I appreciated that he'd said "I know you guys paid out the wazoo to be here, so I'm gonna make sure I sing my @$* off for you! I expected a pretty mellow show, but he was actually really funny, came out into the audience a lot, pulled people on stage, told jokes, took questions. One of the questions someone texted in was "Can you please sing some of Kanye West's tweets?" I guess Kanye West puts some pretty entertaining/ridiculous things up on Twitter, and apparently JG put some to song on a talk show. He did some for us, and they were hilarious! Each and every song he sang was amazing. He hit on most all of my favorites, but did not sing my #1 fave, it's not one of his radio hits or anything. All in all, it was a most excellent two hours. I even got choked up - but if you know me very well, you know that doesn't take tons.
Everytime I do something like that, it makes me miss singing so badly! I'm really glad I got the chance to go. Now, I'll just have to save for 600 years for the next time he comes back... if I save $1 every year, that will give me enough for a floor seat ticket! :)

NBP #2

2011-08-10T23:01:00.002-06:00

Usually, I spend a month or two before my birthday planning and replanning the best dinner spot or movie or event or whatever for my special day. I just don't know how, but my birthday totally snuck up on me this year. We originally had plans to go to Yellowstone with the in-laws, which happened to be over my bday so I didn't think much else about it. Then, that fell through, but MY family decided that was the best time to borrow the lake house for us, so we did that. The day before that trip was my dinner&show with Jaim, and for 3 days AFTER that, we did staycation with the in-laws. Finally, the night before all of that, Friday the 29th, I said to Jeff... wait, when are WE celebrating my birthday? And he called right then and got work off, a babysitter and took me to the Tuscany. We had a great date night there, with way too much food (free birthday appetizer of beef carpaccio, I got salmon, Jeff got pasta,) and delicioso desserts. (I had all decided on one, then they brought me a free birthday dessert, so I skipped my original choice, but Jeff got it... and it was even better than mine!)
No pics, of course, but I have to say that Jeff and I love going out to fancy places and pretending we're real live grown-ups.

Nikki Birthday Post #1 (w/Delta)

2011-08-06T22:51:00.006-06:00

Really, I don't try to make my birthday a month-long affair every year, but it usually turns out that way... Therefore, I'll have to make a few installments.

For my birthday this year, my sister Jaimie got me a ticket to see South Pacific with her (The Opera Festival is during my birthday every year - awesome!) so I drove up to Logan on July 30th, picked her up and we saw the show, which was fun. We also killed some time at Old Navy's $4 swimsuit sale, where I scored a good one! Afterward, we went to an Italian place called Gia's for dinner (where Mal bought me a GC) which was delicioso! My favorite thing about that day, though, was probably spending 5 grown-up girl hours with my sister. We rarely hang out alone, and I had a blast. Thanks Jaim!

For the actual date of my bday, the Radcliffe clan went out to my in-laws' place in Delta. We arrived Sunday, and stayed a few days. Everyone was there except Mal and dad, even grandma Reed. My sis and Bro-in-law brought their boat for our boating and tubing pleasure, which almost everyone tried. We also swam, had a fire, played games and all that. The night of my birthday, we'd planned on having dinner at the steak house there, but as we arrived, we found out they are closed on Mondays... lamezor. There aren't many options out there, so we ate at the Delta Freeze. Always good. I had a really fun time with the fam those few days, and was really glad we were able to go - I even got some naps in, so it wasn't as exhausting as usual, plus random rain kept it cool enough, but didn't keep us outta the water!

Go mom!

Congrats, Kelly!

2011-07-28T23:24:00.003-06:00

My younger cousin, Kelly, got married a mere 16 hours after we rolled in from Denver. We had a blast hanging out all those hours with family and celebrating the union of Kelly and Khaled. Here are the few pics I snatched, all dance goodies.

There's Larissa, snapping pics of the bride and groom's first dance - yet, I'm snapping in the opposite direction. Look at those two most adorable dancing cousins! Can't stand the cutieness!

Princess Stacey came to give them a lesson on dancing, in all her 8 year old wisdom:

But Amelie and Kail went right back to their way of doing it!

The woman of the day and her dad's dance

Thanks, guys for a fun night!

Denver!

2011-07-27T22:33:00.007-06:00

So, Jeff signed up for a training about working undercover, which happened to be in Denver. Since they are required to have so many training hours, it was approved that he go on the department's dime. They gave him a company car and gas card, and the training company paid for his room and $39/day for food. It lasted for a whole week, so we were originally thinking we'd sneak along with him, then found out he was bunked with another guy. We couldn't work out lodging for us, and especially transportation there, so we decided to stay home and miss him lots. Then, the night before he'd be leaving, he was told people bring their families all of the time and he could just call and request his own room. Booyeah! So, we were treated to an impromptu, 100% free vacation last week! The short version goes something like this:

Sunday: Drive there with minimal stops, check in and be impressed with our hotel suite. Girls did pretty well - only needed one huge playtime stop at McD's in all the 8 hours there.
Monday: indulge in free breakfast (made-to-order omelets, french toast, pancakes, bacon, sausage, potatoes, muffins, fruit, cereal, yogurt, every morning) swim at the hotel, naps, dinner at Johnny Rockets, Fro Yo, and HUGE richie mall playplace
Tuesday: Mom and girls went to Dinosaur Ridge to see real fossils and dinosaur replicas, nap in the room, lunch at Chili's, dinner at Golden Corral.
Wednesday: puzzles and nail polish in the hotel, leftovers for lunch (we had plenty!) Little Caesar's for dinner, movie time in.
Thursday: Mom and girls hike Red Rock - challenging with 2 babes but gorgeous and very fun, naps, dinner with an old bestie from FL Sarah and her entourage, then hanging out at her place.
Friday: packing up, swimming (with daddy this time,) lunch at LePeep (love it!) and overpriced, overly amazing desserts from D Bar (Keegan Gerhard ring a bell anyone?) then headed out of town. We just so happened to be hungry right at the same McD's from our trip in... not much variety in Wyoming, I'm afraid...

Seeing as we were there by ourselves, I didn't have anyone to steal pics from, so I have a precious few that I stole quickly with that SAME LAST bit of battery power on my camera. Visual highlights:

digging for fossils, and life-sized dino replicas

the girls' first hike!

And my $4 brownie. Yes, I'd pay that again, it was so good.

Textual highlights:

Alisa is swimming adventurous - or suicidal! She kept me on my water-logged toes, while she climbed out, ran around and walked right off the edge of the pool over and over. Luckily I caught her every time.
At Dinosaur Ridge, they had signs warning for rattle snakes. While the girls were digging for fossils, Amie looked in her bucket and said, "look, mom, a snake!" I instantly grabbed both girls by their shirts and jumped us up out of the fossil pit, much to the startling of everyone around us. Then I looked back in her bucket and saw... a worm. Awesome.
Hanging out at Sarah's house, the girls were mesmerized by their large German Shepherd, Koda. They both wanted to play and pet lots, but would get scared, too, as he was taller than them. In bed that night, Amie told me "Mom, it was fun at Koda's house."
While swimming our last day, Amelie met a little girl and followed her around relentlessly, saying "Best friend! Come here, best friend! Let's swim, best friend!"

Overall, it was just a great time to get away. Between the gas card, hotel, free breakfast, and Jeff's per diem, we didn't even spend a dime! I figure that us going on the vacation actually saved us money, cause we didn't use our car, gas or usual utilities the whole week. How sweet is that? Gotta love a free vacation - and the 3rd we've had in the past 7 weeks! With 1 more coming up, Woohoo!

MTMMS: Toomi-Soomi!

2011-07-27T09:16:00.002-06:00

Ever heard of Team Umi Zoomi? It's a newish show on nick jr. It's one of Amelie's favorites. They are tiny computer-animated people in a computer-animated world that use their "mighty math powers" to help real children.

Best story ever:
While getting ready to go to my cousin's wedding (congrats Kelly!) I put Amie in a little dress that had an attached jacket. It was zipped and she was trying to get it off. She got kinda cry-y whiney in that way that toddlers do and asked me to help her. I just told her it was stuck and that it can't come off, then returned to my business. After a few moments' struggle, I turned around to see Amie with the jacket unzipped, and heard this:
(down on her knees, cause they're tiny people.) Oh, Thank you, toomi soomi! I couldn't have done it without your help!

I.Love.It.

To-Do, To-Do, Playing outside is fun to do!

2011-07-12T13:40:00.004-06:00

Often in my groups at the hospital, I talk with my patients about mindfulness, and how so often we get into trouble/eat too much/waste our time simply because we are not thinking about it, or being intentional with our extra minutes. I make them make lists, lots and lots of lists. Things they like to do, things they want to try, things that work for them, things that are free, things that will get them out with other people, etc. If people just have some fall backs, some things ready-to-go, they're much more likely to fill their lives with meaningful moments and happy experiences. (You know, instead of looking back and wondering how 3 hours just passed while you were on facebook...)

OK. So what? Lately, I've taken a look at how often my kids are at home and how of course, we are much less patient and loving with each other when we sit around the house all day. Well, I made this list of things. I decided that I am going to, without fail, every single day of the summer, do at least one of these things with my girls. (Outside is ideal, but I included indoor for this rainy weather.) I know, you're thinking "the summer's halfway over?" But, I made this commitment awhile ago, I just haven't blogged about it til now. At first, I thought every single day was a lofty goal for me, but some of the things happen naturally, for example, every Sunday we hang out at grandma's house, check! Not only has it been a piece of cake so far, but it's been FUN! and less frustrating the times we are just home. So, I'm gonna share the list, or most of it, here with you, in hopes that you'll get out, too. Additionally, please leave your go-to activities here in the comments. Then, everyone will have an amazing list of resources for those days. You know the ones I'm talking about. Not good for anyone.

Here's my list:

parks, parks, parks - there are SO many if you just look! we're trying a new one each time
splash pads
visit grandma and grandpa
playdate with cousins
picnic in the yard
go for a walk
take dollies for a walk in their stroller
play in the sprinkler
make cookies/treats
deliver treats to family/friends/neighbors
outdoor concerts (there are tons in the summer)
free summer movie in the park
play at a toy store... and leave without purchasing!
art/craft time
build a fort
play dress ups
home dance party
puzzles
hide and seek in the yard
museums
story time (all libraries and even Barnes and Noble do this free)
festivals/parades (your local city fest, or holiday celebrations)
fireworks! (I don't know about you, but there's been a fireworks show around our neighborhood every single night this month!! Much less annoying when you're watching.)
play fashion photo shoot somewhere new
hike
fire in the mountains
roast marshmallows
swim! (don't be limited - think community pools, friends in apartments or even your neighbor's kiddie pool)
visit the local shelter and take the dogs for walks/play
fast food playplace (for too-hot days... and no, you don't have to buy!)
cook a meal together kiddie-style
sidewalk chalk
movie-theater-style redbox (popcorn, tix, lights down)
make a tape/video/album of you for grandparents
garden walks
bird watch
zoo
read at the library
play at the library
check out books/movies from the library
scheduled programs at the library (can you tell I like the library?)
feed ducks
watch airplanes
make up stories about people while you people watch with a treat
make storybooks
play board games (so far all we can handle at my house are Candyland and Chutes and Ladders... on a good day)
walking/running/biking trails
bubbles!!!
go for a drive
go for a bike ride
Our Utah-specific favorites: International Peace Gardens, Millcreek Canyon, Church History Museum - top floor, Jordan River Parkway

I actually have a lot more info than I posted here, namely free festivals, movies and concerts in the valley, if you want more infos. Here is great list I found as well, if you wanna check it out.

Hopefully this habit continues beyond the summer, right? Thanks for reading, and don't forget to leave your favorites here too!

Fourth Fun

2011-07-08T21:58:00.012-06:00

I'm pretty sure that half of the people that read my blog are going to stop because I just (steal and) post THEIR pictures here... But how can I not when they take such great pictures of my kidlets? Photo credits in advance: Thanks Liss/Jason, mom, Marcie, Steph and maybe even a few Kaycee!

I thought we'd kick off the festivities early with a little trip to the splash pad at Liberty Park. My friend Marissa and her two kids joined us. I was totally patting myself on the back as mom of the year for providing such a great, fun day for them, arranging playmates, braving two girls by myself for errands, not to mention with no AC in my car. Turns out it was a little premature. Lisie didn't love the water section (which baffles me!) Amie did, but it is too large of a space to keep track of two kiddies that little in all the playgroundiness and millions of kids. After a few loss scares, a few cryings, hot-sidewalk-burnt feet and swapping of snacks, we decided it was time to turn in. We were actually there for well over an hour, but it didn't seem like it to me, since I didn't get to sit and read or visit like I wished. Oh well!

We got to join the crew in Delta this year for part of the weekend and had a grand old time! Our girls are now old enough to just love every minute of it AND they actually slept at night, so it was all around wonderful! We left home in the a.m. on Sunday after Jeff got off of work, and he slept in the car. We arrived and after a little settle in/visit time, we suited up and swam in the lake, i.e. I floated in the relaxation station.

Those cutie girls had a blast together!!

Then, after some lunch and reading, we (me and the girls, along with all the other girls plus Ty, Hunt and friend) went out onto Tonya's boat for a little knee board or tube action. Jeff wasn't in the mood, but I went with the girls, and most of the other moms and kids. I actually got Amelie on the tube! She lay on her tummy, and I lay next to her with my arms over her, both holding on. She acted like she wanted to go on, and said she had fun, but I'm not sure she actually enjoyed it. She couldn't lift her head up to see because of the life jacket she was wearing, so when we hit bumps, she'd hit the tube with her face.

Driving the boat!
Woops-Kylee and Marcie fell in!

Then, Steph and I thought it was a great idea to take Tanner and Alisa on together. Yeah, we went like a half a mile an hour! Tanner cried at first, but Lisie seemed to love it! She just relaxed, then when we got off, she turned right around and tried to crawl back out of the boat and back onto the tube. We spent a lot of time on the boat, and while Amie seemed ready to get off after a time, Alisa was in heaven, she just laid back and loved every second of the wind blowing through her hair.

That night, we watched Tangled, painted toenails, played games, read books, hung, visited, all that good vacation time stuff, as well as had a little Happy Birthday Dayna celebration.

The next morning, we went to the Delta parade, where the kids got TONS of candy, and it was a bit overcast, so it wasn't even miserably hot like every other 4th of July parade ever.

Steph thought she had to conduct the parade.

We headed out after that, and stopped in at my parents' for BBQ dinner and fireworks. We had a fun time there, swimming, eating LOTS, hanging, roasting marshmallows, playing ladder ball, and of course, fireworks. We had a pretty darn good show on our own, and then it seemed like ALL the neighbors had aerial fireworks, so we just sat outside and enjoyed for a long time, not even bothering to go to Thanksgiving Point, like originally planned. I ended up getting ash burning my one eye, then later a hunk of something fell and hit my other eye, bruising it. Not so fun!

Same confused face...

Love it! She couldn't get enough of us throwing her, even when she was shivering cold.

"I got chocodett!"

The kids thought it was super great that they got to bring the next fireworks out to Uncle Jason before they'd run away and he'd light them.

It was a great holiday weekend, and Jeff even had fun!

Ramblings and Reflections on my Job

2011-07-07T22:05:00.004-06:00

I have been working for the University Hospital system for a year and a half now. I work PRN (stands for the Latin pro re nata, meaning they call me when they need me but I have no other regular schedule.) At the time I applied for the job, I wasn't even looking, we just happened to see it and thought "why not?" I started out working at 5 West, the acute psychiatric unit at the U Hospital, with medical component. (This just means that people who are really severe in their mental illness go there, or those with mental illness that still need to be in the main hospital for some other medical care.) I worked here for a few months before I noticed that UNI was also hiring PRN's. There are just 3 people I might cover for at 5W and didn't get a lot of work initially, so I decided to apply at UNI, too, and got hired. UNI stands for the University Neuropsychiatric Institute. This is also a short-term mental health facility, off the hospital campus, but is much larger than 5w and has a little more specialization between units, as well as some outpatient programs. There are also kids and teenagers at UNI.

I have really enjoyed these jobs for a few reasons. First, it required/allowed me to get my license and certification in order and to maintain them, so I won't be in trouble if I need them later. Second, this allows me to get out of the house, take a break from Spongebob, dress professionally, as well as feel like I am contributing something to my community. Third, it brings in just that little extra bit of cash. Fourth, I can have a job, not have to bring my kids to child care, and STILL get to see my husband sometimes. Fifth, I'm getting a pretty good sampling of different settings/populations and better learning where I might actually see myself working if/when I look for something more permanent. And finally, I love it because I never have to work if I don't want to, and I never have to try to bargain for time off. Overall, this is a very good thing.

There have been a few struggles. Being PRN, I sometimes get last-minute calls (ie, someone's sick) and I feel guilty when I can't say yes because of child care. Even the times I can say yes, I don't like running my girls off to someone if it's last minute, or if it feels like they're a burden. I especially hate leaving the girls with Jeff, right as he's gotten off of a ten hour graveyard shift. Not very often, but once in awhile, I wish I had more steady work (ie, more reliable money.) Sometimes I don't even get a paycheck. It's particularly rough when I have already accepted a shift, then Jeff gets called in to court. The randomness of the schedule can be hectic and even trying, but the benefits of a PRN job have far outweighed those downsides so far.

UNI is expanding its building, which will about double the capacity for patients. Most of the Expressive Therapists at UNI are full-time, but there are 2 PRN's that also have just a few regular days that they work to fill in the schedules. I have been debating for MANY months about whether or not I wanted to put out there the idea that I am free for regular hours as well. It would help take off some of the personal pressure to work other hours if I had scheduled hours, also eliminating some of the schedule conflicts and last-minute babysitting searches. I never said anything to my boss, cause I just couldn't decide, and recently, I had been leaning toward not even bringing it up. After all, I have always dreamed about and cherished the fact that my kids get to be at home with their mother. Well, just this past week, my boss emailed me saying that one of our full-timers was reducing her hours and they were looking for one person to always cover a 5-1/2 hour Friday schedule. I thought there was no way this fell into my lap coincidentally, and I love it when a tough decision makes itself for me, so I accepted. I never aspired to be a working mom, but there are a great many benefits to taking this set schedule, without the downsides of paying for childcare, leaving my kids without their parents, etc. For now, at least, Jeff will be able to be home with the girls for that time. (Even though he changes shifts a ton, most every shift he could get that he would want would also work out just fine with this schedule.)

So, with only a little bit of apprehension, I'm starting my new schedule tomorrow! Here's hoping I made the right decision...

My Family... in Pizza

2011-06-30T22:47:00.003-06:00

French bread pizza for a quick dinner tonight. Can you tell who's is who's?

Yeah, I thought so.

The Princess Festival

2011-06-29T08:07:00.010-06:00

Last year, my parents heard about this great little thing called the Princess Festival, held down in Utah County. It's just a thing that some guy started doing because of his granddaughters, and it turned into a huge, full-scale event. The event itself is all on a volunteer basis, and is a fundraiser for charities. We didn't get to go last year, but made it a priority this year. My mom bought tickets (for Amelie, Alisa, me, her and my niece Stacey) and treated us all to a wonderful day, though we're sad Stacey had to miss it, being out of town.
We got up on Saturday, and got the girls ready in their princess gear first thing. (We had a long princess fashion show the night before to pick just the right outfits!) This pic just melts my little heart! (I swear Lisie was happy, I think she's just squinting in the sun.)

We went to my mom's and drove in together with her. This was the first year they held it at Thanksgiving Point Children's Gardens. On the way in, they had a big beautiful Cinderella-style carriage for pictures. They're both too enamored with the velvet to pose for the picture, haha.

First thing, we got our Princess name tags and Amie got a sprinkling of glitter for her hair. We first came upon a hedge maze, wherein was Alice on one side and Beauty and the Beast on the other. Well, we went in search of Alice but never found her... We managed to find our way out, though. So, we saw beauty and the beast first, and Amie was too scared to go up there. I don't blame her, look at that beast up close, he was crazy! We finally took her and put her on "Belle's" lap with me blocking her from the beast.
From there, we found the 12 dancing princesses, who tell their story and teach the kids a dance. Sorry, but I got bored with all 12 of them, so here are just 2 pictures. Lisie surprised us by sitting and listening to/watching the whole story/dance!

After the 12 Dancing Princesses, we came upon some bear statues. It was so weird, we had to prod and prompt her to pose with the princesses, but she INSISTED we take a picture of her with the bears... both times!

Here was Sleeping Beauty! It took Amelie a long time to buy that it was her, since she was wearing SB's dress, after all, and she looked different!

This was not, in fact Jasmine, like I told Amelie, but Princess Sheherizad and Aladdin. She told the story of Aladdin and the lamp, but we wished she was just named Jasmine!

There was a booth about the charity they are donating to, Quiet Way. This money goes to help purify drinking water in Africa. Amie did the jug-lifting demonstration, so she got a coin to throw in the wishing well. She didn't quite get the wishing concept. ;)

Every year, the Festival introduces a new Princess with a story about service or something. These were all the past princesses, and this year's, Mila. Amie seemed a bit non-plussed, since she didn't know them.

Another special treat that my mom got for the girls was a facepaint (for Amie, glitter tattoo for Lisie.) They both loved them immensely!!
This is the stoic face she made when told to pose for her face paint picture.

From there, the girls gotto go pick out whatever they wanted from the shops, since they have a soft grandpa, who gave them each a TWENTY dollar bill! (Then they gave them straight to mom to hold, of course!) They each got a froofy skirt, sunglasses and a lollipop. Then, in that same area, we headed in for some cute crafts. We made them each a wand and a door hanger, and Amie got a super-cute headband. Amelie wanted to do it all herself!
Being a good girl!
Here's Amelie showing "Tinkerbell" the wand she just made and chattering on. There were some other fairies, but Amie hasn't really gotten into them yet.

This is the Frog prince and nameless Princess - obviously not quite Tiana! But, I'd say this frog was probably in Amie's top 3 list for the day. There was a guy with a mic somewhere that would talk for the frog and she loved talking to him!

There were many cutouts like this around the Festival. I particularly like the pic of Lisie, cause with her open mouth, it looks like she's really rockin' out on that guitar!

We next saw the Cinderella show, where they acted out the whole story, which Amie seemed to like, but my mom and I thought was a little long. Gotta be honest, I was a bit disappointed with the look of Cinderella, but that's the years of Disney spoiling talking.
The steps. Not sure if Amie knew who they were.
I love how she's looking at Prince Charmant! So adorable!
The weird fairy godmother person...

And once again, a major highlight for Amelie - meeting Rapunzel. She had a bit of a line here, too, but grandma and Amie waited happily. (There was a cutout while you waited in line.) Rapunzel was sitting down on the ground, and at her turn, Amie walked up and sat right down next to her. R. asked Amie if she wanted to hold her hair while she signed the book, which Amelie adoringly did!
There was this old woman statue, I have no idea what it was supposed to be, but I told Amie it was Mother Gothel. For some reason, she's fascinated with her, and she stayed near the statue the whole time we were in the area.

Somewhere in all of this, we had a yummy, cold Quizno's lunch on the grass, which was just perfect. We also had fries and mini fair donuts early on, then toward the end of the day we got otter pops. It was so stinkin' hot! Thank goodness they had ice cold water throughout. On our way out, we saw Ariel, who was near the "Grotto" (or Noah's Ark, if you're there for the Gardens.)
Peter Pan and Wendy were also there playing, but the girls don't know them. Luckily, the kids got to play in the water. They were in heaven!
Don't mind some other girl's undies there...

I am Alisa, hear me roar!

Inadvertently got under the spray!

Another time she insisted on a picture! She likes turtles... even fake ones.

It was nice cause it was so hot, but my mom and I tired of it quickly, as we were ready to go home! It's a long 5 hour day when it's 90something degrees outside. We finally convinced Amelie it was time to go when she scraped up her knee, Alisa was hopeless though, and threw her first fit of the day as we carried her out of the water and into the car.

Exhausted girlies. Lisie woke before we could capture her.

Overall, it was a great day! While it just wasn't quite the Disney standard, it was still pretty magical for the girls, and they were both very good all day! They really had a blast. Lisie even wanted my mom to hold her a lot! (Something she usually reserves for mom and dad,

Father's Day

2011-06-23T14:37:00.003-06:00

I've got to come right out and say it at the beginning. Jeff just didn't quite get the Father's Day he deserved! Usually, I really try to make it special, but this year all the little things conspired against me, like his work schedule and seeing our families. Namely, I was a little bit distracted and strapped for cash, seeing as we were in Florida for a week before it.
First, I wanted to let Jeff sleep in as much as possible, which he doesn't usually get to do on Sundays (he gets off work at 5am.) So, I cancelled choir, got us all totally ready and woke him up with barely enough time to open presents, get dressed and get out the door. So, obviously, no breakfast in bed, but to make it worse, I totally spaced lunch for him in that timeline! At the last second, I threw some leftovers in the micro for him, but we were already late, so they were still sitting there when we got home. On top of it, he was feeling sick, so it didn't even feel like he got extra sleep to him. The girls and I got dad a sturdy pair of sunglasses, batteries in his favorite watch and the stuff to get our weed wacker working... I know, right? Not even exciting. I also had the girls decorate a big cardstock tie that he valiantly wore all through church. I thought it was adorable, but there's no telling if he had to endure lots of razzing from the dudes.

Amelie modelling said tie. (She put it up there on her own, knew just what it was!)

Along those lines, earlier that morning, Amie found this shirt and put it around her neck like this, and said "I'm daddy! I'm going to work!" so cute.

That was pretty much it for the day. After church, we went to my parents' for dinner, and the meal was great, then he just slept for 4 hours in my grandma's room because he still felt sick and had taken some meds. Also, my sister Jaimie had gotten him a pen made from bullet shells. He digs it. So do his co-workers. Boys.
We got together with Jeff's family Saturday night for some BBQ and hang time. He had to leave earlier than desired to get himself to work.

Reflecting, I really felt bad that I didn't do anything to make the day more special. (He even mentioned, "I thought for sure you were gonna use your chocolate melter for father's day...") So we went to dinner at TGIFriday's for family night the next day, cause he loves to go out. Except for one big spill, the girls were actually pretty good and we enjoyed ourselves.

Now I'm off to go make some chocolates...

A small interjection

2011-06-23T14:14:00.003-06:00

I just wanted to note a few things that I added to the blog, but they won't appear at the top (since I wanted to keep them in order.)

First, I posted Day 2 of our trip now that Jaimie has her wand (you can find it right there between Days 1 & 3, imagine that!)

Also, I finally tracked down some pictures from Alisa's birthday! I did get some from my mother in law, but also (on the same day!) found some on my camera's SD card. I'm not crazy! The thing is, when I look through on the camera, they wouldn't show, but when I put the SD card in my printer, there they were! Weird... So, anyway, I added pictures of the party to her first birthday post, which you can revisit here.
And, in the same discovery, found a few shots from Valentine's. Nothing exciting, but you can check them out if you want, here.

Florida Trip! Day 9/Trip home

2011-06-22T22:27:00.002-06:00

So, as you probably know from all the complaining in my last post, our flight left at 7 am, which meant super early wake-up call! Luckily, I'd gotten everything ALL THE WAY ready the night before, so we just got up, dressed and left... Still a mite late, though. We returned our rental car (to the same lame dude that we got it from) and shuttled to the airport. We were down one bag, thank goodness (so only 5!) but we still decided to check the stroller and car seat at the gate so we could roll everyone through the airport. This was really nice except it took us even longer to get us all through security! (By the way, they totally didn't say anything about the 16 oz. of milk we brought through... makes me sad we bought a bunch of airport milk on the way in!) Since we got up a little late and then took forever at security, we actually got there right in time to check our stuff and walk right in. Though the girls were again, relatively very good, this plane ride was actually rougher than the first. Probably because they were super-tired. I was certain Alisa would really hate the flying experience, namely because she cries everytime we even use an elevator! She was a total trooper, though. The big problem, really was keeping the girls occupied together-they did not want to share a space! We brought Jeff's laptop just for movie-on-plane purposes and it helped for awhile. By the end though, mom was patty-caking, itsy-bitying and cowboy-riding her little heart out over and over, but it did the trick. (That and lots of snacks and drinks.) Also, it was very nice to get home and have a whole day ahead of us to recover and not do anything!

Overall, it was an exhausting but very fun trip! We didn't really think we'd get to do something like that, and it was awesome to be able to have a big family vacation. We'll probably have to take a few years off from that scale, though... I wanted to list the highlights for each of us as a little reflection.

Jeff
- Seeing Amie fly on the plane (and Rapunzel, and saying "trip house")
- the new Harry Potter ride
- "a long walk in the rain with my beautiful wife"
- my HS reunion
- gators!

Nikki
- both reunions, definitely
- Temple, definitely
- digging my toes in the sand while the waves lapped my legs
- watching the girls in their elements

Amelie
#1 Rapunzel!!!
- Buzz and Woody
- all the playplaces

Alisa
#1 all the playplaces, especially the water sections
- the swimming pool
- running around free in our condo and Kate's house

Florida Trip! Day 8 - St. Augustine and a Choir hook-up

2011-06-22T21:20:00.003-06:00

This morning (I think. It's all blurring...) Jeff got up mighty early with the girls til we were all ready to get up and at 'em. We had to pack everything up for our return to Orlando (see, we had to turn in our rental car, then be at the airport by 5:15ish a.m. the next day... We didn't really want to do that from Jacksonville, 2 hours away.) We headed out (Omar had to work again) to St. Augustine to see America's oldest city, and to tour a chocolate factory. We got there a bit early for our tour, so we went on the carousel and played for a minute at a park, which the girls loved. Alisa didn't even cry on the carousel! (even though I know they don't really look happy... remember, they are just getting over being sick.)

I love how Kate poses for all her pictures!

We found our way back around town and made it in time for the chocolate tour. Kate so graciously treated us, since she had bought a groupon. The girls were pretty good til the end, when it got near Lisie's nap time - yikes! It was fun and interesting, and they gave us lots of samples - that's the important part, of course! Plus, a discount on things we bought then. Delicioso!! You can't beat real chocolate!
The very first thing Jeff said when we got in the car afterward: "Differences?" (In case you didn't know, I used to work in a chocolate shop/factory, so this question was quite appropriate and immediately understood.) The biggest difference, was that Whetstone (the choc co. we toured) actually MAKES their chocolate, like straight from the bean. They also have a lot more machines, apparently the original Whetstone invented a lot of them. At Farris and Foster's (my beloved alma mater of chocolate) we bought the actual big blocks of chocolate, but we did a lot more hand crafting, which I like.

A familiar sight:
A favorite sight:
Lookin' good!

We went to Steak n Shake for lunch (yum!) and had planned on touring the city a bit after that, but A) Alisa was ready for sleeping, and B) we saw a lot of it trying to navigate our way around before, (aka, we got lost, haha!) So, we decided to say goodbye to my great buddy Kate right there and head back to O-town. There was definitely some napping on the way back... lots and lots of it!
We got back into town early in the afternoon and JUST in time for me to be able to run in and do a session at the Orlando Temple. Bless Jeff, he stayed with the cranky kids and just watched them in the car/in the grass while I got to FINALLY go inside one of my favorite temples. (Can't wait for the day when our kids are old enough that we can go together on trips!)
After a diaper-search, we made our way to Bubbalou's Bodacious Barbeque, where I was meeting up with my old choir friends (mostly from other years.) It was relatively a small crowd, but I really had a blast with JP, Holly, Justin, Stephanie and her son, Will. After not too long, my girls were being VERY unhappy, so Jeff (so graciously, again) just took them home and let me catch up with my friends. Since it was a Tues night, Bubbalou's closed up pretty early, so we relocated to the Cheesecake Factory for some dessert, and ended up staying for awhile. We were originally going to stay at my friend, Sarah's place that night, but turns out she's pretty far from the airport anyway, plus she would be at work on the graveyard shift the whole time we would have been there. So, our condo opened up again, last minute, so we were able to book only 10 or 20 miles from the airport, which was nice. I ended up getting back somewhere abouts midnight or so, then had to do the major pack-up for our early morning flight. Yuck! I let Jeff go to bed, though, and stayed up to clean the rental car and condense all our goods down by one bag, so I wouldn't have to get up any earlier than required. Got to sleep about 1:30. :(

Florida Trip! Day 7 - Beach and Alligators!

2011-06-20T11:23:00.004-06:00

Today, we woke up later than any other day, thank goodness! Kate and I were still up long before the rest of my crew. We decided to head to the beach that day (Omar had to work,) and contrary to Kate's wishes, we convinced her to go back to a beach with a splash pad, cause I wasn't sure how the girls would take the sand. We packed a lunch and headed out with lots of gear, but less than she usually takes, she says. It was a beautiful morning to be at the beach, though it was smoky from all the fires they'd been having (right near Kate's!)

The girls played around in the splash pad for a little bit, then we headed down to the ocean. It was so great - I could have stayed there for hours, it's so relaxing and I miss it! Unfortunately, we ended up only staying a bit over an hour. Jeff took Amelie out into the big waves, where she got a mouthful, and that ruined it for her. She was just crying and miserable after that. We took her shallower, then out of the water completely, but no cigar. Kate finally broke into her shell with drawing in the sand. About this time, I noticed she was feverish. We tried to prolong hanging out with the waves, but she just wasn't having it. Alisa, on the other hand, was in heaven! She was an adventuring wanderer. She walked and played anywhere we'd let her go, and seemed to have a grand old time. She really worked up confidence after day 1 or 2 of the trip, and we have to really keep the reins on her adventuring for the rest of the time! We ate lunch, there, then were talking about going home or the store to get medicine for Amie, but luckily I found ours at the last minute. So, we gave her some infant tylenol and then headed to the Alligator Farm (do you think I'm a terrible mother?)

This is another place Kate had recently been with visitors, but so graciously tour guided us there! Jeff had wanted to see some good gator action, but but we didn't have time to stop in at Gatorland while in Kissimmee (or we THOUGHT we wouldn't. We could have, seeing as we didn't get to the temple.) It was a fun place, where we definitely got plenty of views of gators and crocs, and I really liked it, though I wish we could have seen some of the jumping and wrestling they do at Gatorland. Omar had previously found one of the gator food machines that gives you food for free, so we parked there for a minute and fed the little guys for awhile.

After a tour of the place and standing outside for awhile, no joke, I had sweat streaming down my back. And it wasn't even July or August! Utah's thickened my blood. We took a break to let the kiddies play on a little kid playplace (where Alisa adventured her way into the employees only section) until it was almost time for a feeding show.

We stopped on our way out to watch a trainer feed the gator's right from his hand, up close and personal. He gave them dead rats (nasty) and it was fun to watch, a little crazy. He kept mentioning you could get your own extreme photos done in there with the gators!
We went "home" after that, and took much-needed showers and naps. I'm not exaggerating, the girls and Jeff slept for almost 3 hours when we got home! Kate and I ended up just curling up on the couch, too, cause it was so quiet. After that, we went to a Chinese buffet for dinner, Omar's favorite, where they had all the usuals, plus Mongolian BBQ/Hibachi, sushi, crab legs, and of course an ice cream cone on the way out! This was yet another time that I was so glad they don't charge for kids - sick little girls eat even less than not sick little girls! We headed home and wanted to play some games after the girls went to sleep, but as you can guess, they stayed up for quite some time after the late morning and long naps. Kate and I got in Battleship while we waited for the guys to come back from picking up our free redboxes... then we just went to bed without watching movies or playing games! Awesome. We're getting old!

Florida Trip! Day 6 - Church and Kate's

2011-06-18T10:19:00.002-06:00

This day was our checkout day, so we decided to go to 9 a.m. church so we could get back and get things together before checkout at noon. 9 am in my old building happened to be Kissimmee Ward, which I was in for years (then split to Pleasant Hill.) Last time we were there, we visited PH Ward, so I was glad to go see all the homies in Kissimmee. I got to chat with lots of old friends. Well, mostly friends of my parents' or parents of my friends', but you know what I mean. It was fast Sunday, so it was really funny to see all the same peope that still get up every Sunday, as well as lots of new people. I was also very surprised at how many people didn't recognize me right away, since EVERYone said I look exactly the same. After sacrament mtg, we had a little gathering session for said chatting, then we headed back to pack up.
We got out just in time, and our original plan was to take our subs to the beach and play there a bit on our way up to my friend Kate's house. (We stayed with her and her husband Omar for a few days, she lives North of Orl, near Jacksonville.) But, if you recall, our girlies had been getting sick and were no better that day. Because of that, we decided to forgo the beach that day, but an hour into the car ride, both girls were screaming and NOT happy! So, we ended up finding a beach park/pavilion where we could eat, thinking they wanted a break from the car... but they were only screaming out in the heat, too! We cut our lunch short and just muscled through the last hour of the drive. We got to Kate's, where she had a lovely Sunday dinner just waiting for us! (It was really great we didn't have to do any restaurants or other purchases on Sunday.) We pretty much just movied and talked out the rest of that night. They had made up two rooms for us and it was really a great stay (at least I thought so! Don't know about them. ;) ) They have a beautiful house, and we had the great balance of going/doing, and staying in and letting us rest from our exhausting vacation. I felt so bad, too, weeks ago, we were talking on the phone and she said "just don't bring your kids sick! We've had so many sick people at our house!" Sure enough, they were both ill! But, they were really laid back about our kids, which is nice. We're still in that awkward place where some of our friends/colleagues don't have spouses or kids yet, and you just never know how they'll act or be received! Thanks again, Kate and Omar, we really enjoyed being at your house!

Florida Trip! Day 5 - Swimming and Reunion

2011-06-17T18:46:00.007-06:00

Needless to say, by this day, we were well prepared to sleep as long as we needed to. It didn't last too long - they adjusted just in time - but we still took it nice and easy that morning. I was originally planning to go with a friend to the temple that morning, but she backed out, so I kept with the lazy theme and took Amie to the store for a milk run, and grabbed some Publix subs for our Sunday lunch (yum!) Then, we finally got around to getting in the swimming pool. We had a great time swimming, and there were hardly any people in the pools! They had 2 pools, hot tubs and a fun little kiddie pool with a shower/fountain. The girls had a blast!
We were mighty hungry, so we went to one of our favorite places, Cafe Tu Tu Tango. We got some ribs, cheese dip, bacon wrapped shrimp and empanadas. It was delicioso! The girls were starting to show signs of being sick, though, and Lisie slept most of the time there.
We headed back to our "Trip House" and I got ready for the temple while the crew watched a movie. I drove all the way there (at about 430) only to find out the last session starts at 3. So lame! I was big time bummed. The last time we were there, the temple was closed so we had never been. Boo!
That night was my 10 year high school reunion. It was held at BB King's, a jazz club/restaurant, which happened to be down the street from our condo. We knew that there wouldn't be many kids there (open bar, and didn't start til 8pm) but didn't have a babysitter, so we brought the kiddies along. (You can see from the pictures, they were pretty subdued. Whatever cold they picked up was hitting full swing.) It was really fun to see old friends, and with the exception of only about 3 or 4 people, everyone was very friendly and congenial. There were, however, only about 30 or 40 there, and my class was near 400 people! I would have loved to see a lot of my other high school friends, but if they don't care, then c'est la vie! I think most of them didn't make the effort, because they all still just live in the general area. Here are a few goodies I stole from friends.

Enjoying the endless wings and mac and cheese bar.

Sleeeepy girl.

The whole fam.

Some of my closer lady friends, Angela, Valerie, Danielle and Julie.

Most of the ladayz.

I got my chat on, and would have liked to stay just a little bit longer, but the girls were well past their limit by 10:30 anyway, so that's when we left. We put the girls to bed when we got back and did some packing up, as we were checking out the next day. (Couldn't believe 5 nights had already gone by!)

Florida Trip! Day 4 - Animal Kingdom & EPCOT

2011-06-16T22:55:00.005-06:00

I know this is going to sound redundant by now, but still so true that 8 am (6am UT time) came oh-so-early this morning. This would be our last day in the parks, and again, my friend was meeting us to get us in (I know, right?) Travis was walking in to Animal Park just ahead of us, and we got to have a pleasant, quick chat before going our separate ways. In addition to getting us in, Travis scored us 3 Fastpasses for use for our whole party, any ride we wanted. (I KNOW, RIGHT?!?!) The chocolate-covered pretzel I brought as thanks, though delicious, now seemed quite inadequate. He always was a giver, though.
Animal Kingdom proved pretty fun for the girls, they must have been getting the hang of it by then, plus what kids don't like animals? We headed straight for the Safari, where we used a FP, but they didn't keep it. Awesome! We got some really good views of all the animals, and Amie totally loved it, Lisie just chillaxed lazily on daddy's lap. We also went on Rafiki's conservation train because it had a petting zoo stop. They both really liked the petting zoo, but it was unimpressive to these adults. We did get to see a turtle up close and personal though, which was awesome because for some reason, Amelie had been talking about turtles the whole morning. After that, we walked some animal-seeing trails, namely reptiles, birds and fish.

We split from there - I did single rider line on Everest, a rollercoaster, while dad took the girls to the Boneyard, a giant playplace, then switched. Jeff called me when he got off, and it was hard to tear the girls away - they were absolutely loving the running around! we went from there to It's Tough to Be a Bug, where Jeff was a bit of a sissy about the bee stings, and Alisa was outright screaming the whole time! She wasn't having the 4D effects and giant spiders hanging from the ceiling. We debated heavily, then left that park. The girls couldn't go on most all of the other rides there, and I don't know why we thought it ok to skip the Lion King show... sad. We took our cue from the day before and left for lunch, but went to our place for leftover pizza so the girls could get in a nice long nap before we headed to EPCOT.
We tried a few rides at the front (We loved the new Spaceship Earth, and emailed ourselves a video. Nemo in The Living Seas was a hit, as well as all the aquariums there. Mission: Space was whoa! I really almost barfed. Then I did Soarin, Jeff opted not to.) We headed back to the world showcase, stopping in twice for some free soda samples first, of course. Right away, we stopped in France for a dinner of ham and cheese croissants and creme brulee. Heavenly, seriously!
That's me in front of the EPCOT Eiffel Tower.

Then, we walked through the rest of the showcase but did absolutely nothing else besides look! Three days of walking and not sleeping and crazy heat were really wearing us down, and we left once we completed the circuit. It was a bittersweet thing to be done with the parks. We'd had some great memories, and there were things we didn't get around to doing, but our bodies were done, done, done!

Florida Trip! Day 3 - Hollywood Studios & Magic Kingdom

2011-06-15T00:35:00.009-06:00

This was another early morning, but we were meeting a friend, so we had to get our bums up. My friend from high school, Nan, was getting us in free (I know, right?) and met us at Disney's Hollywood Studios (it will always be MGM to this former Great Movie Ride employee!) We started heading over toward the re-done Star Tours ride, where the line was longer than we wanted, but we toughed it out. (Complaint-Disney doesn't have an actual baby swap, they just give you a fast pass for the second person to go, so you still wait twice.) We were pretty unimpressed with the ride, and we got away from there as quickly as we could because it was... Star Wars Weekend! Augh! We didn't want to be caught up in that mess. I watched the kids have a blast at the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area while Jeff went on Rocking Roller Coaster, then all went to Muppets 3D. We waited in line to see Buzz and Woody, and that was really the end of our time there! We wanted to try the Toy Story ride they had there, but the line was an hour and the girls were tired, plus we were hungry. The line to see them took you through all these scenes from the movies that you could pose in for pictures (in a toy package, under the crate, strapped to the rocket.) Amie was pretty enchanted with Buzz and Woody - the Toy Story series makes the top of her list!

Lisie could not stop staring at the giant Woody!!

We headed out of Studios and opted for the car. We left Disney property to drive through for lunch at Checker's. This is some awesomely greasy fast food we don't have in Utah. It didn't disappoint! (We had to drive through a McDonald's, too, though to get milk for Lisie. Milk's not exactly Checker's fare.) This was a good move, as the girls got a nap while we were driving all around.
After our lunch foray, we headed to Magic Kingdom (of course with Amie wearing her Sleeping beauty dress.) I should note that the moderate temperatures and torrential rain of the day before were long long gone! That storm passed, leaving a blazing 97 degree sun in it's wake! Amie was pretty enchanted with the castle and kept asking if she could "go on it."

We got there right as the afternoon show in front of the castle was finishing up, and awhile before the parade. We walked kinda leisurely down Main Street, while we formed our plan of attack, which was to start in Fantasyland. On our way, we saw the meet and greet for Rapunzel, and hopped in line. We came to discover that this line is usually up to 2 hours, and our wait was just under 30 minutes!! I'm pretty sure that's because it was almost parade time. The line happened to be on black top with no shading, and we waited from 2:30-3 in the afternoon. I absolutely CAN NOT stress how awful this was! I was genuinely starting to worry about my little babes and heat exhaustion. One of the cast members even came over to us on her own and started telling us about their first aid and baby care. It may or may not be true, but I don't recall ever feeling so hot in my life! Thank goodness it was only a half hour! Anyway, they bring in a certain number each hour, and do a bit of a show. Each child gets a coloring page and crayons, then they put on the Rapunzel music and do a dance with them, A La town-square-dancing scene from the movie. It was super cute! Rapunzel and Flynn then come out and while you wait, you get your picture with a stuffed Pascal, which our girls loved. From the SECOND Rapunzel came out, Amelie was totally in love! When she is overload-excited, instead of her usual, loud jumping around, she just gets really quiet. She was silent for our entire wait, and just stared with her hint of a smile. I never thought I'd say it, but it was absolutely magical, and I'd gladly wait that wait again! When it was our turn, Amie just walked straight to Rapunzel and stood right in front of her, didn't really say much. Rapunzel said how beautiful Amie's pink dress was, and that she had a pink one, too, back at her castle:

Amelie STILL talks about that dress conversation! You can see Flynn in the back signing her color page.
Lisie and I caught up while Jeff manned the camera. Flynn gave some remarks about needing to get Alisa a frying pan after one of her great stern faces.

Amie is in pure heaven!
One last hug. I felt bad taking her away from them!
So, the little socket where we plug the charger into our camera has been broken for awhile now, and we were saving up the last juice in our good camera for this one particular meet up. I'm so glad we did! (We brought our ghetto camera for a few other shots.)
When we finished there, we did some major hydrating and shady resting before Jeff and I took turns with the girls while we fastpassed space mountain (he'd picked up one while we were in line for Rapunzel, then got a baby swap FP for the other.) We also went on the Buzz Lightyear ride, and Amie also still talks about shooting all the bad guys-she loved it!
We also headed over to the teacups. We didn't spin a bit, but Alisa was still a little unhappy with it. Amie had fun. We then waited in our longest Disney line, Dumbo, but the girls enjoyed that. Lisie even seemed to be loosening up by then. In Fantasyland, near Dumbo, they are doing a huge expansion, and had construction-blocking fences up everywhere, with life-size pics of characters all over. Amie kept wanting me to stop and take a picture of her with all of her favorites! (Belle, Dopey, the Beast:)
I have no idea where she got that finger crossing thing from, and she does it at the funniest times! Mickey's Toontown is also closed, I think for good, because of this. Bummer! I knew the girls would have liked it. Last thing we did in that area was Mickey's Philharmagic. We'd gotten many recommendations to go on it, plus it was very air-conditioned, so we did it, but I was unimpressed. Plus, the girls have a hard time with the whole 3D thing. After that, we knew we needed grub and ate at Pecos Bill's, then headed to Haunted Mansion, which we all enjoyed, then walked around by some other rides we were planning on going on, but by this time, the girls were falling asleep, and once they were out, we decided to just go. I was the only one sad about missing the parade and fireworks, but I decided a shower and going to sleep were plenty to console me! They totally did the trick.

Florida Trip! Day 2 - Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure

2011-06-14T23:22:00.010-06:00

Right about 8am when my alarm went off, I was really regretting planning our park days first. We got up and at 'em as quickly as we could, and got to Universal Studios (Islands of Adventure Park,) where my friend's dad had left some complimentary tickets for us. (I know, right?) We had a little drama when we lost Alisa's bottle RIGHT OFF THE BAT, our first morning! These headless photos are playing around on the rocks while Jeff tried to find it for us.

Actually, as you will find out, climbing on these rocks was probably their Universal highlight... Sad!

We started off in Seuss Landing with Cat in the Hat, and my, did Alisa hate it! Amie was a little freaked at the spinning, but liked the visuals. We moved on to the Carouseussel for an easier ride, but Lisie wasn't having that either. So, we moved on, skipping the lame island, and headed right for the big winner, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! By this time, it was sprinkling on and off, but we weren't deterred - we brought ponchos! We took our time meandering through Hogsmeade and taking pictures on our phones to send to our families so they'd be jealous. We did baby swap for Dueling Dragons, or now the Tri-Wizard something or other. It went nice and quick, but Amie still refers to that as the "scary castle." Great ride, we love it, glad we didn't miss it. We skipped the Flight of the Hippogriff because the girls were too small, and stopped to enjoy a butterbeer. We also bought a pumpkin juice, and let me tell you, that was the second worst mistake of the trip! It wasn't awesome, it tasted cidery, like I should have it warm with a slice of pie and a santa hat. Worst part, though, they didn't have prices posted, and found out the (DELICIOUS) butterbeer was $3.50, and the pumpkin juice was over $6! Lame. We also spent a great deal of time at Ollivander's. There is a queue, a LONG one, just to get into this place! We knew we had to make it a priority, because we had planned on getting my sis Jaimie a wand from there for her birthday. It was a bonafide mad house. SO BUSY! I gotta say, we had a really hard time picking out just the right wand for her. They had all the characters' wands, as well as a huge selection of other wands. I opened dozens and dozens of wand boxes, Jeff and I debated back and forth and back and forth about what design she'd like (without ever agreeing!) Finally, we knew we had to go with the 12-inch wand made of Reed. If you know her well, you will know why we came to this conclusion.

The rain picked up, so we headed to the new Harry Potter ride. They had a sweet baby swap with benches and Harry Potter movies playing while we took turns. That was by far the longest line we waited in there, but still only about 30 min. Or was it 60? It was cool, though, cause it took us through Hogwarts with talking portraits, the greenhouse with Mandrakes and the Pheonix at the entrance to Dumbledore's office, among a thousand other things. This ride was OFF THE CHAIN! (I don't even know where that expression comes from, but it felt right.) It's part simulator, part moving, part animatronic, part superawesome! It scared us a little, for real. When we got out, it was pouring!! I told Jeff it's gonna stop, so we should just keep going. It was raining so hard, however, that many of the rides were totally shut down. We kept going around the circle, but we ended up just taking the very long way out and leaving anyway. We missed some of the best rides, but fulfilled our biggest priorities. We waited a minute before going to the parking garage, but it only seemed to get worse. We had a poncho over the stroller, but Jeff and I were literally as wet as if we'd gone in a lake with our clothes on. I'm mostly sad we didn't get to do the kids stuff at the Studios side, cause I had told Amie we were going to see Spongebob and Dora today and she was totally pumped. Luckily, she has a short memory. We VERY reluctantly left, and while we were driving home, it slowed to a sprinkle and then stopped. I knew it! Oh well. The girls were not loving it. So we just went grocery shopping (bought bottles!) We also visited Farris and Foster's, my old Chocolatier employment and bought some good good goodies!! Bummer that no one I knew was working that day. We went to a yummy deep-dish pizza place for dinner, then settled sleepily in to our condo.

Sidenote: It occurred to me on our way there that hurricane season starts June 1, and we flew in at 11:30pm May 31st. But usually, there's nothing to worry about so early in the season... well, except that tropical storm torrentially drenching us out of our Universal day!

Florida Trip! Day 1 - The plane!

2011-06-14T22:56:00.005-06:00

*Disclaimer: I'm just not good at truncating stories I lived, so get comfy if you plan on sticking around for all 9 days worth of travel!*

Jeff, the girlies and I were lucky enough to be able to take a trip to Florida this year. (We make sure to take one major-ish vacation every year with our timeshare points, and my 10 year high school reunion was really just a good excuse to spend this year's points in CFla! [that means Central Florida for you outsiders.])

Anyway, I watched airfare like a hawk for months, and it turned out that flying in late one day early and flying out one day later was much cheaper, so we ended up doing that. (And, it just so happens that we scored the cheapest documented tickets except ONE sweet deal that I never saw-it must have only been up a few hours.) We were fairly nervous about flying with the girls. We ended up with nonstops both ways, and while 4.5 hrs is a dang long time, I think it was better than 2 blocks of 3 hrs each. It had us choose our seats online when we booked, and while we scored 3 seats in a row for our return trip, there were ONLY middle seats available for our flight out. Major bummer - our poor 2 year old! I called the airline, but they said only the airport could switch it, so we decided to get there nice and early to make arrangements. When we checked in, they got Lisie and I next to Amelie, with daddy riding footloose and fancy free. At the gate, we tried again, and thank goodness, they got us together! (Phew, that wouldn't have been fun for anyone on the plane.)
I have to say it, with the two of us, our two little toddlers and our 6, yes I said SIX, bags, we were a little bit of a circus going through the airport, and especially security. We had spent enough on our 3 airline tickets and were not taking away from our eating budget just to check bags! So... we took 3 carry ons, plus 3 personal items, which literally meant dad and I each carried 3 bags on our person with a girl in arms all through the airport. Awesome. How did we do it, you ask? Well, actually, we had no problem getting all the stuff we needed into our 6 carry-on-sized bags - including clothes, snacks, baby toiletries, swim floaties, laptop with movies, toys, toiletries, chargers, GPS... it was pretty impressive. (Stroller and car seat checked free.) We even had room for all our temple clothes! Our big secrets? 1) we packed our razor in the stroller (haha!) and, 2) we knew we'd have a washer and dryer everywhere we stayed, so we went light on the clothes. The great thing, though was that we were able to check 2 bags free at the gate cause everyone had tons of carry on. Bonus! It was awesome not to have to do the 3-bag-baby juggle down those tiny airplane aisles.
We landed around 11:15pm and hopped a shuttle to our rental car reservation. I've never been so dissatisfied with a car rental! The guy started with me, and stopped to help other customers THREE times before I was done. My 2 sleepy babies and I did not appreciate this at midnight. They also gave me the quote without some things that were required, so it also ended up costing almost $100 more than budgeted. Ouch! Joke's on them, though. It took so long to get our car through the other customers and the constant upselling attempts that Amie had an accident right there on their floor! I felt bad at first, and wiped up what I could, but the guy was so rude, I left figuring it served him right! We whipped out the GPS (thanks, Melissa and Jason!) and made our way to our condo, where we had a great unit, with a high chair and pack and play already inside and waiting for us. That was lovely!

Final Note: Stepping off of the plane was like jumping into a swimming pool! The humidity difference between UT and FL is already about as drastic as they come, but come to find out, there was also a tropical storm moving through, and whoa! I felt my hair insta-frizz!

Stay tuned for the good stuff!

A call for followers!

2011-06-11T23:16:00.002-06:00

I only title this post thusly because "A call for..." or "Calling all..." makes something sound official.
I just wrote this post because I want you (Yes, YOU, any "you" that reads this blog) to go to the top and click my "follow" button/link.
I only want you to push the follow button/link because it will make me feel popular and loved. No, really.

Nothing wrong with communicating your needs, right?

C'est la vie... C'est MA vie! ...hopefully.

2011-06-11T21:06:00.002-06:00

Oh to dream, right? This super-great blogger is giving away a trip to Paris... HELLO?! Awesome! Here's the link to the giveaway... except you probably shouldn't enter... unless you want to take me with you, that is!

http://ohhappyday.com/2011/06/goes-to-paris

All I can say is Ooh La La. Check it out!

Mother's Day!

2011-05-20T12:27:00.003-06:00

This year I had a lovely Mother's Day. Jeff got off of work (late) in the early morning, and still made me breakfast in bed (pancakes, eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, juice - the works!) Accompanying my breakfast tray were a beautiful peach-colored rose and a Kobo! (That's an eReader, in case you didn't know.) He had previously warned me it was a gift I would think was too expensive so he would take it out of my Bday presents, too. :) I then let him catch a few zzz's before we had to go to church. Church was fun, I got a chocolate heart from the ward, some cinnamon bears from the primary and a super-cute card Amie made in nursery, as well as her handprint on a page followed by this poem about fingerprints on the walls, etc (only for so long, you know?)

I just loved it! Jeff made efforts to handle the kids until Elder's Quorum so I could enjoy listening at Church, and even when I had Alisa, she was a good girl for me. (Very out of the ordinary for Church time.) After Church, we got to be lazy at home and Jeff made dinner for us, one of our favorite staples, Honey Mustard chicken.

We were able to go out to eat the day before with my mom and family at Los Hermanos in Provo, one of her favorites. It was a very fun time, I thought, and good food. Us kids all pitched in to buy her a fire bowl which has already gotten much use!

We stopped at Jeff's mom's on the way there to give her a Joseph Smith-etched crystal, and she gave me a cute shirt and a sweet letter. (She usually does flowers, but said she's not doing that this year cause we all always kill them! Sad but true!)

I'm so thankful for mothers and to be able to be counted among them!

Jeffrey's big 2-7.

2011-05-20T12:06:00.003-06:00

My Jeffy face just survived his 27th birthday. We started off the Bday celebrations early at my parents' place 2 weeks ago with BBQ and gifts when everyone could be there. He scored a few great things. We kept the party alive with a fun group FHE bowling night on Monday the 9th. We had fun and got really creative with juggling all of the kiddies by the end... Later Jeff, so luckily, got off early (midnight instead of 5 am) the night before his Bday, so he wasn't a tired bear all day. Friday I made his favorite dinner (or one of them - kielbasa in red sauce over rice) since I wouldn't be cooking on his birthday. Saturday, I got up with the girls and made reese's pancakes and bacon for breakfast, then we headed to our niece Hannah banana's birthday party (well, Amelie and I did while dad and Lisie played Wii at grandma's) which was super-cute, by the way.

After the party, we left the girls with grandma and went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, where we had some delicious offerings and ate outside in the lovely sun. This is where the plans get all muddled. I had planned on taking Jeff to see a movie after lunch cause he love that and we hardly ever get to go. However, all the times were cutting it fairly close for us since my sis-in-law needed help with Hannah's party, so Jeff that morning said "let's golf instead." So, I didn't worry about getting out of the party quickly, THEN by the time lunch was over, the rainy rain clouds were rolling in... kiboshing golf, but the movie times were already over, SO we ended up bowling again. I was sad cause I didn't want Jeff to be disappointed, but he really loves bowling, so we went. Totally different experience without the littles! We even finished so quickly that we got to go home and relax for a minute, where I gave Jeff his presents, mostly very boring and practical, but he did enjoy the black law enforcement garments I got him and the chocolate-covered strawberries I made.

That evening, we got together with Jeff's family for dinner (homemade pizza,) dessert (raspberry cheesecake) and gifts (Best Buy gift cards! He bought an eReader he's had his eye on... like mine!) It was a great, relaxing day. I love you, Jeff!

Weesa Bear

2011-05-04T21:36:00.004-06:00

I know, sickening, right? I don't care-it's one of her many nicknames and we're proud!

For quite some time I've been thinking I should do an update on Alisa's progress, if only just for my own records, and with her 15 month appointment yesterday, I finally have a little motivation to do it (with a little Amelie here and there.)

Our little Alisa is really not so little at all. Her percentiles are: height-82, weight-75, and head-89... yeah, poor big-headed Norths. She's also in size 18 month clothes and only one shoe size behind Amelie. She has her 8 front teeth, and already 2 molars. Everything about this girl grows like a weed! ...except her hair. Amelie's hair is astronomically long, while Alisa still can't even rock a pony. She's still totally adorable, this is only a shame because she WILL NOT EVER wear a headband. Soon, little hairbows. Soon.

Lisie does a lot of little cute actions. She waves "hi" and "bye", and she is the queen of snuggling her little (big) head down into you, tucking in her arms. She makes a sweet scrunchy face all the time, and is now getting into wrestling and chasing type playing with Amie. It's super cute to watch, but sometimes one doesn't quite know when to stop. Our pediatrician (Dr. Baar) asked if she was walking ok... yeah, more like climbing Mount Everest if we'd let her! The little button can't sit still (especially not in church or a restaurant!) She climbs, climbs, climbs anything that might be climbed, and has the marks to prove it! (Thank goodness the scar on her right cheek is starting to lighten at least.) She also has some sweet toddler-shake-it moves. Another budding dancer! She also claps at "yay" and can show you where her head is.

She is not really using words yet, mostly grunts and yells. She imitates us a lot, saying crazy words and phrases that never come out of her mouth again, though she does have a few consistent repeats. These are "daddy" (both for Jeff and for me) and "uh oh" anytime anything hits the floor, even if she purposely dropped it there. :) Despite the small vocabulary, this girl communicates. She's always bringing us her shoes or coat when she wants to go outside, a cup when she wants a drink, or her blanket when she wants to snuggle. If she doesn't know how to tell us, she'll just go out and get it on her own! We have to be very careful with her-I've looked around to find her atop our dining room table, or stuck in the screen door in her many pursuits. The other day, I'd thought she was in the kitchen but didn't see her, so I turned to leave and heard her laughing behind me. I turned back around... didn't see her... searched... and found her in the dryer! The door wasn't shut all the way, so she opened it, crawled in, and thought it was the best time ever! She was giggling her head off. :/

Generally, Alisa is a happy baby, but when she's not happy, you will know it - long and loud! I'm so grateful to have her, she teaches me a lot and her giggles and happiness are very contagious. She's a bright spot in my world, and I am just trying to enjoy every second I have with her!

Calling all singers!

2011-05-04T09:38:00.002-06:00

Hello all! A few posts back, I mentioned a choir I auditioned for called Sotto Voce. We are again having open auditions, this coming Wednesday, May 11th from 6-9. They will be held at Realms of Inquiry, 900 E and about 1150 S. We're especially looking for good ladies, but all are very welcome to tryout! This is such a talented and innovative group, I'm loving every second and hope to see you all there!

Check us out at:
http://sottovocechoir.weebly.com/

Easter!!

2011-04-25T20:58:00.012-06:00

This year, we had a busy and fabulous Easter weekend. By a stroke of luck, Jeff was off Easter Sunday, so he even got to be part of most of our festivities!

We started Saturday morning, going up the canyon with the Radcliffes, and everyone made an appearance (except Jaimie and Grandma.) Mom brought cinnamon rolls, we brought juice, and then we cooked ham, eggs and breakfast burritos over the fire-and it was all very good! We had a bit of a struggle getting the fire going, I think cause nothing was quite dried out with the weather we've been having. (A little lighter fluid did the trick! OK, a lot.)
We also did an Easter egg hunt for the kiddies up there, which I thought was super fun for them and went really well! They each got 16 eggs, which translates to loads of candy. Amelie just went around, in love with her cousins and aunts. Poor Lisie was sooo tired, but after daddy took her for a sleepy ride, she woke up in a splendid mood. My girls L-O-V-E being outdoors! It was a mite chilly, but I had a blast and I can't wait to get up there more this summer! (Though my car still smells like campfire...)

A few shots, courtesy of Melissa:

Alisa's ever-popular scrunchy face. My fave!

Sat. night, the girls and I went to BBQ with Jeff's immediate family (while he was at work.) We had some good burgers, colored eggs, hunted for their special egg, had strawberry shortcake, and lots of other fun activities. My girls took turns being terrible, but in all fairness, they've been sick and exhausted. They both seemed to have fun, despite. Us big kids also got our special eggs, yum!

Sunday morning, we gave the girls their Easter baskets (modestly stocked, and yet somehow they still ended up with 3 buckets of candy, ugh...) The little girls donned their beautiful new Easter dresses for church, and I even curled Amie's hair. (whoa!) They were beautiful! Church was a little rough with the girls not feeling well, but Jeff and I hadn't actually been to an entire block of Church for 4 weeks, so we just stayed. We took turns in the nursery, and they were fine. From there, we headed out to Grandma Barbie's for celebration with Jeff's extended family. We've actually missed this every year because Jeff has always worked Easter Sunday, so it was great to be a part! We had a huge meal, and quite the Easter egg hunt! They do it up with candy, toys and money. The girls got SOO much candy, some bubbles, necklaces and over $9. Amelie was again in heaven chasing around her girl cousins... well, when they paid attention to her, at least! She'd been talking about coming to the Easter party for 2 days, and she had a great time. She started out sad, but as soon as Hannah walked in the door, she lit up and I rarely saw her again! There was a funny incident where all the kids were downstairs and they found a mouse - it's still a mystery to me as to whether it was dead or alive - and all the kids came screaming up the stairs. Amie did NOT like this, and she kept talking about Grandpa Vern being "journey" (germy) because he carried the mouse out.

Here are a few last shots from Amie's cousin's ward Easter party. She made some cute crafts and got, of course, more candy!

Hello, how adorable are they?!

One weekend in January... And one in April...

2011-04-12T12:50:00.008-06:00

Back in January, we went up to one of our condos in Wolf Creek with a bunch of our friends-Amos and Jessica, Bryan, Tami and Taylor, and Melissa, Kevin and Nathan. We got going a little late on Friday night, but went out to eat at a cute little place, where we got seated by the fireplace, which I loved until it roasted us. Dinner was good, then we went back to our place to just hang out and stay up much later than this mommy would at home!
The next day was our only full day there and we tried to pack it all in! After breakfast, we child-laiden folk tried to go sledding on a not-so-steep hill while A&J went cross country skiing. We had a good time, but we'll definitely look for a more prime spot if ever we go back. We ate lunch out at a fun Mexican restaurant where Jeff had a burrito as big as his head! Then we headed out to our sleigh ride... which was really just a hay ride on a flat bed with sleigh runners. It was actually very beautiful scenery, just not the sleigh we were expecting. On the way back (sort of) we stopped in to see a Catholic Monastery where they make creamed honey. It was cool but a little bit sad because they were incredibly dwindled in numbers and said they'd have to keep decreasing their honeys among other things if they didn't get more people and soon.
That night, we BBQ'd dinner in, and then played a game while (most of) the kids slept. I can't remember the name of the game, but it was very fun! The last day, we basically just packed up and headed out. It went by really quickly, but I had a blast! I love getting away with friends, where you know you don't have to worry one bit about the normal stuff. Gotta be honest, it was tough juggling our 4 little kids' nap times and still getting to go out, but I can't wait to go again!

Here are a few pictures I totally scavenged from friends:

AND THEN-we did the same thing this past weekend with my family, just took a weekend to be in Wolf Creek. It was more leisurely, but I thouroughly enjoyed it. We all split up meal and associated chore duties, and ate out Sat. night for Mark's birthday. We forgot and missed out on the salsa class they did, but we went to yoga, played many games, watched movies, went in the hot tub (awesome!) and ate innumerable treaty foods. Yeah, we ate well. (I also gained 2 pounds! Over the last 2 weeks, anyway.) We were very sad not to have the Martins there, and Reed couldn't stay either, but I personally had a blast! (Until my girls got sick all over everything right before checkout... bah.) And I have no pictures of that weekend! My camera woes are almost as bad as my phone woes. (Another phone broke at the condo, actually.)

Sotto Voce

2011-04-04T10:01:00.003-06:00

Just wanted to drop a line about a new choir I auditioned for. It is called Sotto Voce and it is just starting up, headed by a guy from one of my past singles' wards who is a talented composer. It's a small ensemble with a broad range of styles, where members will rotate conducting and also with a focus on service. I was excited to hear about it, but as my audition drew near I grew apprehensive. I hadn't really had time to properly prepare and I had been sick. I almost lamed-out, but I went and my audition went pretty well. I heard back that I was accepted, and we have since begun rehearsals at a private school in the Sugarhouse area. (This is the rehearsal I mentioned in my last post.) It's just beginning and I think the ball may roll slowly, but I have really enjoyed being able to sing with capable musicians again! I love the group and feel very comfortable with the members this far. They've been very supportive and even sent me flowers while I was recovering last week. I'm so glad I took the plunge and I'll keep you all posted about future performances!

PS-we are scheduled to do 1-2 numbers at the SLCC concert April 14 and 15 if you're interested.

My Little Baby

2011-03-31T19:02:00.002-06:00

We had our first OB appointment Monday the 21st, almost 2 weeks ago now. I couldn't wait for this appointment cause I wanted to have a picture of a little munchkin. I was apprehensive because I had to change doctors for insurance purposes (and I was totally in love with my last OB,) but it turns out this new doc I'm seeing is just perfect, too. Plus she knows my old OB and loves her too. Anyway, the appointment went as planned until we got to the ultrasound. They had asked me if I was sure of the date of my last period (100%, was my answer.) I was told that the baby was not measuring up to the 8 weeks I thought I was, so I'd need a more in-depth ultrasound to take more exact measurements. We scheduled that for two days later without much thought. There were two possibilities at that point. First, that something was wrong. Second, that we just weren't as far along as we thought. I was pretty sure that was the case, since we didn't get a positive test right away.

On the way in to our ultrasound appointment, I asked Jeff if he was worried. We hadn't really considered the other options til we were pulling in. Still, we weren't really worried. We went in for the appointment, and the Ult. tech started on the belly but couldn't get good pictures, so I changed and she came back. She was taking lots of pictures and measurements, but was pretty much silent throughout. She did tell us that there was not a heartbeat. This was 100% normal for the size of the baby, but the SIZE of the baby was not necessarily normal. Finally, she called the doctor in to confirm, and she's the one who talked to us. She said that the baby's sack was a little irregular, and it appeared that I had been bleeding a little. (I had not had so much as one tiny drop of blood up to this point.) She told us we would have to come back again so that they would have another measurement with specific timeframes to monitor the baby's growth. She did say it really was possible that nothing was wrong, but there were some irregularities. We made another appointment and left subdued.

My doctor actually called me that night to discuss the ultrasound. She told me all the same things and gave me warning signs to watch for that should bring me to the hospital. At first, I was very rebellious against and angry at the thoughts and ideas they presented. Then, I did some research and that helped a little. Most importantly, Jeff brought me to our bedside and offered a lovely prayer. Twelve days seemed an impossible amount of time to wait with such a heavy lack of knowledge, but after that prayer, I felt surprisingly peaceful. I knew things would work out just right.

Life resumed as normal, and still nothing happened that week. On Saturday afternoon, I began to notice very small amounts of blood. I notified a few family members (as I had plans that night) and was blessed enough to have my in-laws pick up my kids and have a quiet night in with Jeff (who came home from work.) This was a sad night for me, but still, nothing really happened. Sunday, we were back on track, and Monday, too, but generally I was taking it easy. By Tuesday, bleeding had barely increased, and I had the beginnings of very mild cramps, but really nothing else to alarm and everything progressed so slowly. So, I took some extra strength Tylenol and went to rehearsal that night. We sang for the first hour before we took a break. By the time we almost to that break, I was starting to have some intense cramps. I excused myself to the restroom and realized right away that I needed to get to the hospital. I called Jeff, he said he would meet me there (I was pretty close to the U) as soon as his mom came to watch the girls. I tried to keep it all together when I told the group I had to leave, but kind of lost it before I was out of the room. One of the members came to check on me, hugged me, offered a ride, but I wanted to go by myself. I made it to the ER in a fair amount of pain and tears streaming. They probably helped me very, very quickly, but I felt like I sat there forever, hunched over in my chair, people staring and crying my way through a box of tissues. I felt like everyone knew what was going on - I could see pity everywhere I looked.

I got settled in my room and Jeff arrived a bit later. The nurse came to give me an IV (so I could get some much-needed pain relief) and had a hard time. I think I might have squeezed Jeff's hand off if it went any worse. It took 2 nurses and 4 sticks to get a good line, meanwhile I'm writhing in the bed. I have huge (we're talking 2 inch) black bruises where they tried to get an IV in and couldn't. Finally, I got some bloodwork done and morphine, then the Resident came. She did some more tests, exams, ultrasound, etc. She said some signs pointed to being in the middle of a miscarriage, but she could not get an ultrasound so I needed to go to radiology. After this, I got more morphine because those procedures were probably actually the most painful moments of my life.

I waited a bit, then was taken to Ultrasound (still cramping and bleeding throughout,) where the kind girl who wheeled me there stayed in the room - isn't that weird? Luckily, it was not the most important thing to me at that moment. We got some very thorough pictures, again painful, and they showed for certain that the baby was gone. It did appear, however that maybe the amniotic sack remained. So, I was wheeled back to my room, where we waited for over 2 hours for the docs to give the "official" word. They came and said I could do a D&C or take some meds at home. I opted for the second. They got me all set and Jeff and I left at around 2:30-3 a.m.

The following morning, Jeff took the girls out and about and picked up my prescriptions. Since I opted out of the D&C, I had to take some medication that would basically recreate the miscarriage to make sure that everything got out. I took those Wednesday afternoon (yesterday) and settled in. I watched half a movie in bed, then slept, watched more movie, then slept. I have become literally astonished at how much a person can sleep. I was basically bed-ridden all day, and still slept all night. I was REALLY dreading this treatment because of how painful it was the first time. Maybe just because it was artificial, or perhaps it was the Lortab, but it was not as bad as the first time. I am still struggling with extreme fatigue, cramps, bleeding, etc, but I am getting better. Thank goodness my sister came and took the girls for a walk today so Jeff could get some homework done, and my mom came tonight to get dinner, watch the girls and put them to bed, so I could rest while Jeff's back at work.

Thank you so much to all of our family who has helped so far-they are so supportive and making big sacrifices! My family that has come have been driving up from Utah county, and when Jeff's mom came, she brought a load of grandkids she was watching with her, because Jeff's sister was also in the hospital. We couldn't ask for more.

My personal thanks to Jeff who has been the model of charity. Even after days of taking the load, and I could see that he and the kids were driving each other absolutely nuts, he only wanted me to sleep and rest.

As for me, this experience has almost been surreal. I was never expecting a miscarriage because all of the women in my family are so fertile. It just never crossed my mind. I have been very grateful to have been prepared and supported throughout, to get that little forewarning. I think if Tuesday night's events had come on without warning, it would have crushed me. I am also very grateful that I have not felt necessarily like I lost a baby. My loss feels somewhere between that and not being able to get pregnant. I look back with gratitude and recall little things that are helpful, like not knowing gender, not having names picked out, not having made any purchases or special plans. Losing what felt like my baby would also have crushed me.
I am still sad, but I do feel a peace. Therefore, my greatest thanks, now and ever, is to my Savior. For His support, the knowledge I have, and the Comforter which I feel around me.

More MTMMS

2011-03-12T20:32:00.002-07:00

(Moments that makes me smile)

Today Amelie was cruising around on her little princess ride-on with her ride-on unicorn stick attached firmly to the back. She said three things that made me die from adorableness overload.

1. "I got you, Neigh. This way, Neigh."
2. "I'm so sorry, so sorry." -very heartfelt, and stroking its face when it fell off the back
3. "I had no choice!" Haha! (this falls into the "I've never said that to her/have no idea where she got that from" category.)

Also, the girls both wanted to get into Amie's crib and jump around while I sat in the rocker nest to them. Alisa would stick her face up to the slats and wait for me to eskimo kiss and say "nosey nosey," after which she laughed like there was nothing funnier in the whole wide world.

My first clue....

2011-02-23T11:55:00.002-07:00

...was that I kept catching every sickness that was going around.

My second clue was being exhausted, despite a reasonable amount of sleep.

My third clue was feeling sick to my stomach anytime I hadn't eaten anything, or ate too much.

The last clue before we buckled down, was increasingly frequent urination.

Any other excellent sleuths out there?

Santo Valentino

2011-02-21T21:44:00.004-07:00

That's Valentines, but in Italian, right? I'm awesome.

So, we (Jeff and I) decided quite awhile back that we would celebrate our Valentine's Day on Tuesday instead of Monday, because who would want to babysit our kids on Vday right? Then we could be the Vday babysitters for all and then easily get one in exchange. As the day loomed nearer, we realized that every one we know was staying home because of celebrating another day or one half of the couple would be at work. Pretty cool. So we ended up not having anyone over for babysitting, but we already had reservations on Tues, so we went with it. We spent Monday just having a fun Vday family day. Jeff made the heart shaped strawberry pancakes that are tradition in his family for our breakfast. Then I got my (over budget!) gift of flowers and a beautiful necklace/earring set, and Jeff got his box of Nikki-made white chocolate peanut butter cups.

Grandma #2 stopped by with some candy boxes, balloons and cute kitty jammies for each adorable girl. (Grandma #1 gave them her gift of tall Vday mugs filled with assorted candy the night before.) The girls were delighted!

They were having a blast of a day, then we watched a little kid-time-love story, Alpha and Omega (courtesy of Redbox.) It was very fun to see them all so excited. Later, after nap and lunch and all that, we drove around a delivered a few valentines that they hand-colored the week before for FHE, then came home to some surprise valentines on the doorstep from doorbell ditchers! They had so much fun and got so much candy, we ended up not even giving them the little heart boxes we got them... (maybe in a few weeks when their blood sugar finally comes down.)

So, then Tuesday, we took the girls out to my parents' house in Eagle Mountain, as they graciously offered to sit (it's nice not to have to ask!) and then headed off to a movie. We went back and forth and back and forth on what to see that was lovey, and eventually settled on Gnomeo and Juliet because it was the best time for our dinner reservation. :) It wasn't Jeff's very favorite ever, but it was cute (and of course, a much happier ending than its inspiration.) From there, we headed over to.... none other than our favorite - Francks! Hello, amazing food! I was glad we ended up going Tues instead of Mon, as A. they said it was SO busy, but also B. they only had a set menu. I'm sure it was delicious, but... We both started with the soup, this time a hot smoky strawberry soup. Hello friends. Don't sneer, it was a-freaking-mazing. I ended up getting chicken with cheesy grits and vegetables, Jeff had the duck with ginger raspberry sauce, potatoes gratin, and veg. Both to die for. We shared the carrot cake that comes inside a 10 inch tall white/milk chocolate cylinder that's also dessert for your eyes! It was just as lovely as the last time we went, and considerably cheaper (and we left not quite so ridiculously over-full, which was great!)

All in all, it was a perfect few days for us!

PS-did you know Vday is the anniversary of Jeff's and my first kiss? Yeah, we weren't even dating. He just had the guts to go in for the kill.

Moments that make me smile!

2011-02-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

Amelie's mommy-prompted prayer for our pancake breakfast went something like this:

Me: "Dear Father in Heaven"
A: "Henly Fodder"
Me: "Thank thee for this day"
A: "Thank you for today"
Me: "Thank you for this food"
A: "Thank you for my cakes"
Me: "Please bless our food"
A: "Bless my cakes"
Me: "to nourish our bodies"
A: "I love my cakes"
Me: "In the name"
A: "my name is Amelie"
Me: "of Jesus Christ"
A: "Amen!"

My Lisie Bear

2011-02-09T20:37:00.004-07:00

The girl of honor in her "Sweet Treat" shirt (and actually wearing a bow in her hair!)

My darling little Alisa muffin cake (don't gag) turned one year old last week! It's crazy how much more quickly time is flying with her than with our first (and we haven't even gotten to kids 3 or 4 yet!)
Alisa has been living in transformation central in the year since her birth. She started out a very mellow, serene baby. She then had a long, terrible stint of acid reflux that made her switch from mellow-happy-baby to screaming-writhing-baby at the drop of a hat. This phase lasted a long time. :/ Then, she began to outgrow her AR and became very, very clingy. Poor momma had to carry her everywhere, all the time. Then she began to sit up, crawl and even walking now! She has become more independent (though she definitely loves a good snuggle or carry sesh,) and now she is a very happy, very loud baby. If you've been around her at all recently, you know that she loves to yell! Happy, sad, excited, tired, silly-no matter the mood, she likes the whole world to hear about it! She has recently begun imitating us-she doesn't really have any words yet that she assigns meaning and comes up with on her own, but she'll copy you at the most random times. She repeats words, and every now and then says something astounding! So far the biggest winners are "happy birthday" and "I love you." She loves to clap, play hide and seek and peek-a-boo, watch kiddie movies, climb, Climb, CLIMB, and loooooooooooooves to eat. She and her sister are very different in many ways, but one thing they definitely have in common, is that they love to dance! She's a good little diaper-shaker. She also loves to growl and laugh. The poor thing still doesn't have hair and refuses to wear a bow, but that doesn't hide her beautiful eyes and contagious smile.
Her doc visit was this past Monday, and this little munchkin was not so little. She was in the 90's for weight and 80's for height, 90's for head, too. (All the North kids are doomed on that front.) She's trucking right along developmentally, and all is well with her.

For Alisa's first birthday, I decided simpler was better, but didn't want to gip her a thing. We had a little family and friends party at our house with a "Sweet Treats" theme. As in, happy birthday to our sweetie! We had sweet foods only (homemade heart-shaped chocolates, sugar cookies, a giant candy bowl, homemade mousse truffles, and of course a CAKE -- peppermint-candy-shaped, red velvet. It was delicious.) Plus pink lemonade with little heart and flower shaped ice floating inside.

Invitations were made with candy/cupcake/treat covered stationery that folds into its own envelope with some convo hearts inside. I did the same memento as for Amelie-a picture frame for everyone to sign that I will fill with a cake-eating photo. And as for the "activity," I just filled a cute jar with conversation hearts and had everyone guess the amount-Mal won it with a guess of 220, when there were 222! Nice! Kid favors were a box of convo hearts that said "from Alisa," and decor was pink streamers and giant candies on the walls.

You gotta get the bubbles out when you have this many little kids around!

Notice mommy not paying attention while Alisa swipes the last truffle...
And the aftermath!!
I hear ya, girl, they were soooo good.

She got some great presents; rattle baby doll, adorable clothes/shoes/much-needed-jammies, a glow worm (probably her fave,) puzzles, sippies, a book, stuffed animals, bows, a pink swing for our swingset and a rocking horse. She made out!

The little sweetheart was cute for the whole intended party time, but it went long (what can I say? Our friends tend to be late...) and she was struggling at the end. By the time we got to her cake, she was sooo tired. She just picked at it a little and kinda looked like a zombie. She went down for nap #2 before all her guests even left. :)
Her personal pan pizza, I mean cake.

So sleepy!

And the final obligatory, but oh-so-true statement - I can't believe it's been a year since we brought this girlie home! I just love her cute little face so much and can't wait to see what other adventures she brings to our lives.

New Year's

2011-01-30T17:51:00.002-07:00

So, I'm a little behind, and you probably don't even care about the specifics of our New Year's, but since this blog is effectively my main source of record-keeping, here it is anyway!

We didn't really get any pictures (sadly,) except a few on my phone, for which I have not yet gotten the means of transferring pictures. So, anyway, we went with the whole entire Radcliffe clan, including Grandma and even Reed (I know-you don't even know who he is, right?) to dinner at Buca di Beppo. We chose this place because it was family style, which actually really threw some people off for quite awhile. :) We eventually got it all worked out, though, and I ended up loving 3 of the 4 dishes we ate from-the 4th was good, just not my fave. I personally had a blast, though I can't speak for everyone. :) (It was a very long table.) My daughters, as usual, bothered their favorite relations a bit much while they were trying to eat, but they always love seeing our families.

From there, we headed over to Jeff's mom's house for dessert and some Just Dance. We ended up playing it all night long, despite other plans previously made, and had a great time. Jeff and I brought our champagne flutes and the bubbly (this is always a must at my house, and didn't want to do without, so we brought it along for the party.) It just so happens, that we saw a new and awesome-sounding flavor that we chose, Apple-Peach. Too bad it was disgusting. A great way to turn the North in-laws on to the necessity of bubbly on special occasions. Not!

Seeing as we are terribly old and boring, we stayed only a little after midnight, then took our brood home. (Alisa actually got to sleep somewhere amidst the Just Dance ruckous, thanks to sweet Grandma snuggles.)

New Year's day was lazy for us, just the way it should be.

Again, as I reflect back on yet another year, I can only be thankful and recognize the blessings of our Heavenly Father. This past year, we welcomed Alisa to our family, paid off our car, I was blessed with the most perfect kind of job for a young mom, that has in turn helped us greatly reduce our debt, AND we had a wonderful vacation to Seaside, Oregon. Life for us carries the usual ups and downs, but on the whole, we are so greatly blessed here in the North home, and are grateful for another wonderful year.

We expect yet another wonderful year on the horizon, with our focuses being on first, to get our physical selves in order, and also to better and more consistently invite the spirit into our home. Here's to another great one!

Christmas!

2011-01-17T13:28:00.008-07:00

Luckily, Jeff got a photo printer for Christmas, so despite my aforementioned camera problem, I have been able to get my pics off! Hallelujah! I'd be super sad if I lost holidays.

For Christmas, we were, of course, super busy. It was the North's year to have us on Christmas eve. My extended family always happens to get together early in the day, so we were lucky enough to get to see both that day. In the morning on Christmas Eve, we drove up to Ogden ('we' being me and the girls-Jeff was at work til 3:something.) We had taco salads and many many desserts. For the most part, my girls were good, but Amelie had an accident (luckily I brought clothes!) and Lisie was tired-fussy for a bit. We played a dice game for our anonymous dollar gifts and we got some good things. Jenny also brought a DVD she made of my Grandpa's life (he recently passed away) that she showed-and gave us all a copy! It was lovely. It was a good time. There are so many of us, that we held the party in a church gym. I don't usually like this, it feels less intimate, but they did a good job of setting it up so we felt closer.

The one split second where she wore her headband.Kiddie Korner

This manger was a centerpiece...

but Amie just wanted to snuggle baby Jesus!

Lisie loves aunt Mar Mar

and Grandma's mouth!

Yum!

Aunt Mallolly and her shadow doing hair at every family get together!

Two sweeties!

Then, we left to pick up daddy and go straight to his grandmother's house in Grantsville. We had the usual smorgasbord there, and then a cute program of two movies-first Christmas Oranges, and then the Nativity (I think?) Then, we followed it up with marshmallow guns, of course! We got SOO many sweets as gifts there this year, I thought we might die. Seriously-fudge, homemade candy (mints, caramels, coconuts, cremes, caramels, maples,) pecan brittle, two varieties of chocolate covered pretzels, truffles, a gallon bag of cookies, popcorn, and that's not even all!

We decided this year was the year to start sleeping at our house (we'd been sleeping at my mom's the past few-meaning me and the girls. :)) We opened presents bright and early Sat. morning at our place so we could be on time for breakfast and presents with the North's. We went from there to the Radcliffe's and had a second breakfast then presents. Then dinner. Needless to say, I did not escape about 5 holiday pounds.

First look

Too early.

This is the post-unwrapping mess. Whoa!

I tried my darn darnedest to get a better picture of us in our Christmas outfits this time, without much success. I decided our color was gold this year.
(They were both imPOSSible to keep still!)

Worst. Idea. Ever.

2011-01-15T21:07:00.002-07:00

Today we had the worst idea ever today. What could possibly be that bad, you say?

Well, I've had a fairly home-bound week. Gotten out at least somewhere each day, but by today, Saturday, I was going a little stir crazy. So I decided we should go out for lunch. We decided on Red Robin and actually enjoyed our time there despite a rambunctious toddler (who kept talking to the people in the booth next to us) and a sicky baby.

Not too bad, right?

So we decided to push our luck and take said babies to see a $1.50 movie. We went over and decided on Megamind, and were a bit early, so we let the girls play out in the hallway for a bit to expel their energy. Then, we went in to get our seats, and settled in. (It filled up really quickly and we got blocked in our row.) The girls were being pretty good, and the movie started. At 3:30. 3:30? Yes, that IS my rambunctious terrible two toddler's and sick baby's nap time. What a disaster. We tried every possible idea and combination of people inside and outside the theater, but no. We did not see the end of this movie. Even though we only spent $4.50, this makes me really crazy-I never quit a movie or book because not knowing the end will drive me insane! We made it through most of the film, so I was really invested in that little storyline. I may never know...

Live and learn, I guess.

FYIs

2010-12-30T22:28:00.002-07:00

Fyi, I have not dropped off of the planet, and we had a LOVELY Christmas, too, but I am boycotting blogging about it until I can get my pics on. Somehow the usb connection on my camera conked out and is not working for me at all. :( I'll have to do a slick SD card transfer some other way. Boo! I don't know what happened exactly, but I probably don't have to let my imagination wander farther than two adorable but destructive little girls.

In the meantime, Alisa is walking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Alright, girlfriend! This came without any coaching from mommy, so it was quite a surprise. I actually scared her when i noticed because I got all excited. (In case you haven't spent much time with her, she does NOT like surprise-excited.)

Conks and Bonks

2010-12-22T09:10:00.003-07:00

At my mom's house on Sunday, Amie tripped down the stairs (we think) and landed right where the slate tile meets the carpet, effectively earning her the biggest goose egg I have ever seen in my life, no kidding. She was pretty rattled for a long time. It took lots of mommy snuggles, an ice pack, her blankie, a movie and a cupcake to get her back to normal. These pics don't do it half the justice that nasty knot deserves!

These are just a little romping around time with daddy. They are SO blurry but that's just a testament to how much fun they were having-couldn't make them be still!

Aw.

Santa!

2010-12-17T22:29:00.003-07:00

Our ward Christmas Breakfast was this past weekend. I brought muffins and directed the choir in two fun numbers. It was a good time, and the first time we got our girls to actually sit on Santa's lap. I love the pic. :)

Amie was mesmerized by the singing kids.

Cutie smile and stripey tights!

I'll eat the camera!! Nom nom!

Waiting patiently.

Haha! So cute!

U v. Y!!

2010-12-17T22:24:00.003-07:00

This year for the annual Holy War, we decided to watch from a pizza place, Big Daddy's, then went to Jeff's parents at halftime for the remainder. OF COURSE the best team came out victorious (Go Utes!) but I think my friend Heather said it best, "Congrats to Utah-you win the 'least suckiest of two suckiest teams award.'" Neither team played their best, but I have to say that last field goal block was pretty darn impressive. A Utah Man am I!

Are you sick too?

2010-12-17T22:17:00.003-07:00

I have been so sick, this is about all we've been doing at my house, whenever possible:

I finally got myself to an Instacare today (day 11) and got some meds. I thought the inability to even look down or not cry for the pain in my head was a good reason. We soldiered through all the other activities of a busy week, except for the annual Messiah. It made me very sad, but glad that I didn't have a solo to miss (Jeff did. :/) At least I sang at the Taylorsville City Sing-In. I sang "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion." If you're not familiar with Handel's Messiah, its the most hardcore soprano solo. I was terrified to sing it, but it turned out ok. (Luckily that was the day before I got sick.)
Here's to lazy days and getting better!

Sledding!

2010-12-16T16:12:00.006-07:00

Two weeks ago, we busted out our FHE (Family Home Evening) a few hours early and turned it into FOD (Family Outside Day.) I insisted on getting Amie a little saucer sled last Christmas, but it had yet to be used by her. We got one for Alisa for Christmas this year, but when we got all that snow I couldn't resist it! We took both sleds out to a nearby park, bundled furiously, and gave the girls their first sledding experience. Alisa was so monotone the whole time-it was naptime, and she just sat there going along with whatever we did. No smiles, but no tears. Amelie was loving it! She thought it was great fun, and eventually went by herself. Then, once daddy sat her differently on the saucer and she flipped off. She wasn't hurt but got a load of snow up her shirt-she was ruined! She would have no more of it! It was fun while it lasted, but you can only be happy for so long trucking those kids up the hill over and over.

It was SOO bright, we couldn't see anything in the camera viewscreen, so this is what we ended up with:

I think Lisie looks so much like her cousin Kail in this one!!

Potty-Training Chronicles, Finale

2010-12-10T22:50:00.002-07:00

I think we are good, people! Amelie is going on her own, telling us when she needs help and even going all night without any accidents. (Which is a great thing, since we tried the big girl bed thing, and... no cigar. Crib side is back up!) I have to say, I think we had an easy go of it, comparatively. But, the saying is so true-when they're ready, they're ready, and when they're not-they're SO not. Those times we attempted before felt hopeless. This time, she just got it! Yeehaw! I am SO ready for that diaper bill decrease!