finding joy in the journey

Field Day

2011-06-02T09:37:00.003-06:00

School is almost out and that means a week full of fun activities at school. Last week was the dance festival where Mikayla's class danced to Fireflies--and yesterday was field day. The kids had all sorts of activities that ended with the most exciting part of the week--getting hosed by a fire truck. I showed up from work just in time to catch it on my phone.

Mikayla was thrilled and soaked and a little cold. SO fun!

2011-05-10T14:04:00.003-06:00

I have this thing about recap posts.
I don't like doing them.
However, time goes by - I don't make the time to update my blog - and I keep finding myself in the same situation. Do you see my dilemma? This time, I decided to compromise with myself and do a super quick recap-ish post and then I'm going to surprise everyone (including myself) and do little posts
as.
things.
happen.
Novel idea, right? I don't know how you all manage to do it, but I'm going to give it a shot.
Here goes:
January. Um-No pictures taken. I'm not sure why, but apparently there wasn't anything photo worthy happening. I should remember why, but I don't. February...same story. I'm on a roll! This is going to be a piece of cake.
March was my darling daughters 4th birthday and she got her ears pierced (which was a huge deal for her), so there's no use trying to skip over that one :) I have to just say that this ear piercing was not planned. We were at the mall one day and I asked her if she wanted to go ahead and just do it (she'd been talking about it for months). To my surprise, she said yes. So, we stopped off at Claires where I met a lovely young girl running the store who looked like she was 12 so I scooped Aubrey up and walked right out. Luckily, Icing is right around the corner and the girls there looked like they probably knew what they were doing. Plus, they were so sweet to her and even complimented me on my shoes (plus 1 for them!)

Now, I promise that I warned her it was going to hurt right at first, but apparently she didn't believe me because afterwards, that sweet little girl was SO mad at me! She cried for an hour until we got settled in the car and she fell asleep (which she hardly ever does). When she woke up, she was happy as could be with her little pink earrings.

Moving on.

So, as I said earlier. This same cute little bug recently had a birthday. This year, Tangled was the theme of choice. I had very little time for prep, but we managed to come up with one decoration that has been a favorite: A 15 foot Rapunzel braid made out of yarn. I'm telling you, it was no easy task to make the darn thing, but it was totally worth it. It took 3 of us and TONS of yarn, but the kids play with it almost everyday still.

AND it was the hit of the party. Limbo, anyone?

A little wall painting, present opening....

and what's a birthday party without a craft to make and take home???

To finish off, Aubrey and her friends wrote down their dreams on a piece of paper attached to a "floating lantern" and we let them off. But this is Traverse Mountain, so the wind made it all the more exciting (and funny).

Finally...Easter. I took pictures, but they didn't turn out well this year.
So sad.

We weren't exactly feeling photogenic that morning...so, I'll spare you all the photos of that day and instead throw in a couple of the girls (and my Dad!) from Mother's Day.

Well, that's about all I've got in me for now. I guess I'll start breaking out my camera more and making some fun spring/summer memories.

We haven't been to the zoo in a while...

2011-01-07T00:10:00.000-07:00

I'd love to say that our Christmas season went off without a hitch...but I'd be lying. The truth is, we had some chaos--but all in all, we made some pretty wonderful memories. Like baking cookies and watching movies and just hanging around in our jammies.

Oh...and shoveling snow. (I bet you remember that part the best, Dad)

and Aubrey seeing Santa at our church Christmas party was pretty fun, too. (Luckily Mikayla was discrete when she informed me that this was definitely not the real Santa). At first Aubrey was adamant that she was not going to go up and see him. No way. Not going to happen.

"I'm staying way back here where he can't even see me"

Well, it doesn't look too bad. Maybe I'll take a closer look.

Hmm. I guess it couldn't hurt to simply say hello to the guy. It's sort of scary, though, so funny faces are definitely in order to mask the nerves while waiting in line.

What do you know? Santa's not so bad after all.

I'd say she rather likes him.

A few days later we made time to go to the mall where the real Santa Claus is so that the girls could tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Imagine my surprise (is that really the right word??) when Mikayla told him she wanted a classroom size whiteboard. That's a pretty tall order. Luckily Santa can just whip one up in his shop with all that help from his elves. No sweat for me, right? Right.

When Christmas morning arrived, the girls were not disappointed. Santa delivered and we had a great morning opening presents and being together.

All Aubrey wanted this year was the "Tangled hair"--from the Rapunzel movie. Unfortunately it only took a matter of 5 minutes for it to become exactly that: tangled.

...and finally....here is Mikayla with her whiteboard. She can play school to her hearts content (along with half of the neighborhood). :)

Is it okay to say that I'm sort of glad to just have survived the holidays? Now--on to the new year!

Suzie Snowflake

2010-12-08T20:42:00.008-07:00

We had to hurry back from California so that Aubrey would be home in time to prepare for her debut dance recital. It was a week full of all things dance that ended on Thursday with her stage performance. I was a little worried about how she'd do. No joke, there were little ones that stood up there and cried the whole time. One little girl got one look at Santa on the other side of the stage and had a melt-down. Aubrey just waved at him :)

When we arrived, she was a little nervous and she wouldn't even look at me to take a picture-

but when Aunt Dani walked in, she was all smiles.

Okay, so here's the thing. I don't know who shot this video (except that I do and it was me), but it is terrible. I was too far away and it didn't help that everytime Aubrey waved her arms in the air ("Suzie's come to town") it reminded me of ET (please tell me you know what I'm talking about) so I was laughing. She's adorable, though, right? The smiles and waves are precious. By the way, she's 3rd from the right.

Way to go, ladybug!

2010-11-21T15:54:00.021-07:00

Finally.

Our much anticipated trip to California has arrived. We drove down on Thursday and got up bright and early Friday morning to go to the happiest place on earth. I tried to keep it a secret from the girls so they would be able to sleep the night before, but Aubrey is a sneaky little thing and she tricked us into giving it away. As expected, the kids didn't sleep much--but we had such a great day anyway.

Our first stop was the Princess Fantasy Faire--to meet and take pictures with some of Mikayla and Aubreys favorite princesses. Tiana, Ariel and Jasmine were there.

We rode all the classics--Pirates of the Caribbean, Autopia and Dumbo (to name a few),

but we all agreed that It's A Small World was the favorite.

We even learned some fun facts while standing in line--like how they include an additional 50,000 lights on the exterior to light it up for Christmas. I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty magical.

Aubrey loved to see the princesses, but as it turns out....Goofy was her very favorite. She thought he was hilarious when he tried to steal Grandma Cori's lunch and walk off with our stroller.

We saw a few other friends during the day--Minnie Mouse and the Fairy Godmother.

It was a cool day and I'm not ashamed to admit that after getting sprinkled on, we actually rode the Monorail to sit down and warm up :)

To end the day, we had to watch the parade and firework show (okay, I may have been the one to insist on it, but everyone agreed that it was well worth the wait for a good spot).

Cute little Aubrey waved at every character that passed. She was so diligent, that when Santa passed way up high on his float, he looked down at her and asked her if she was having a fun day. She was so wide-eyed nodding that she indeed was.

These snowmen were Mikayla's favorite. She thought it would be so funny to see one of them fall over and try to get back up.

What would the end of a long day be without a quick snapshot of the children all worn out? I carried them both to bed and they barely opened their eyes. I'd say that is the picture of a successful day.

Okay, now it's time for a little r&r for me :)

2010-11-14T16:42:00.007-07:00

Who has the most amazing brother-in-law? Me! I'm heading out of town this week and I (being the awesome person that I am) destroyed a rotor....so, Mike stepped in to save the day and get my car in safe driving condition. Can I just say that I love him??? (because I do).

Did I mention that it is 30 degrees outside right now? That's right. 30 degrees...and I am inside the nice, warm house blogging about his mad skills.
Thanks Mike!

Mikayla's baptism

2010-11-04T20:58:00.008-06:00

My darling daughter turned 8 in October and decided that she wanted to be baptized. I had big plans to send out cute little invitations with her picture weeks in advance, but--well, life happened and we ran out the door at 7:30am the day before to take these pictures at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. It was so cold, but Mikayla didn't complain as I dragged her around to get as many shots as I could of her in the white dress she was so excited to have :)

As you can see, we were lucky to have so many (many) friends and family members that were able to come and make the day special and memorable for her.

Grandma Cori and Papa Craig

Grandma Debbie, Great-Grandma and Grandpa Johansson

Hugs to you, my sweet little girl. I am so proud of you for striving to keep the commandments and live a Christlike life. It is such a privilege to be your mother.

2010-10-15T13:42:00.009-06:00

Aubrey has been watching old home videos of Mikayla's dance recitals when she was 3 and just waiting for the day that she was old enough to start taking dance class. When September rolled around, I got her signed up and she was absolutely thrilled.....up until we got there. As you can see, her nerves got the best of her. Smile, Aubrey:

We sat together and watched the first class, but the following weeks she decided that she was going to "be brave" and just do it. Now she love, love, loves it. Her favorite part? Dancing with the scarves and blowing up a balloon with her class (below). The kids hold hands up close, then stretch out as far as they can. Miss Barbara choses a child to pick what color the balloon will be each time. As you can imagine with a class of 10 little girls, the "balloon" is always pink or purple. Not for my little Aubs, though. Her balloon was turquoise. Naturally. I just love that little bug.

Mikayla has done dance (loved it) and soccer (not so much), but over the summer she was really interested in tumbling, so I signed her up for a gymnastics class--and it turns out she's pretty good at it. Some of the pictures are blurry, because this not-always-prepared mom ended up using her phone to snap some shots.

The above picture is towards the end of a (very long) contest to see who could balance on the beam the longest while standing on their toes. I think the instructor had to finally call it a tie because Mikayla and the other girl could have gone forever!

2010-08-25T19:37:00.009-06:00

I sat here in front of my computer contemplating a recap post--for about a second--before deciding to just pick up right where we are. So--this week began school for the girls! Mikayla and I had a girl's afternoon out to do some last minute shopping (because we still hadn't found the perfect backpack) and hanging out just the two of us. There was ice cream involved, too...(of course!)

Some shoes and accessories--and we were set.

Aubrey has been asking me every morning for the last two weeks if that day was the first day of preschool. Finally on Monday, the answer was yes! Here's my cute 3-year-old next to her cubby

...and next to all the daily charts. She did such a great job making new friends and following all the rules--I'm so proud :)

Mikayla started 2nd grade just this morning at our brand new school--Traverse Mountain Elementary (yay!). I had strict instructions not to make a big deal when she left with her friends to walk to school, so I did my best (but it was hard).

Isn't she beautiful? I'm the luckiest mom :)

Better late than never

2010-05-09T19:16:00.006-06:00

Many thanks to my family for their support and encouragment--

Some highlights from December:

2010-01-13T15:00:00.010-07:00

Watching the girls decorate and admire their little upstairs tree.

Aubrey liked it so much she wanted to sleep under it that night:

Taking lots of pictures and trying to get them to both smile naturally at the same time:

(Such a poser)
Making a gingerbread house (I dodged that bullet by pulling out the kit just before leaving to do some shopping--I hear grandma Cori and Papa Craig had quite the mess to clean up....thanks to the sweet little girl pictured above)

Christmas eve at the Wheat's...decorating cookies for Santa:

the nativity:

and opening presents Christmas morning:

But the best part was having my parents here for a while :) My mom spent a lot of time playing with the kids so I could get some extra things done.

Meanwhile, my sweet dad got to work on his "Papa-do" list :)

1. Fix the drapery rod in the guest room. Check.

2. Balance the door to Aubrey's room so it doesn't keep closing. Check.

3. Fix the hardware on the silverware drawer. Check.

4. Secure Mikayla's headboard to the frame. Check.

5. While you're in here....can you hang these??

Love you!!!

Oh. And I turned 31 on Christmas Day, too. We couldn't quite fit that many candles on my little slice of cheesecake, but we tried :)

Ready for a little change

2009-12-14T13:27:00.008-07:00

Well, it was time to take the girls to get a haircut (No, Dad--we didn't just cut one hair--we cut all of them).

I had my camera in my purse so I had to whip it out when Aubrey sent me a panicked-but-trying-not-to-show-it look when a BOY started cutting her hair and then blowdrying it. What!?

There. That's better.

2009-12-12T16:09:00.006-07:00

Getting off the freeway on our way home from Salt Lake the other day, Aubrey says "Hey, there's a plane over there!".

"Where, Aubrey?"

"Over there--on the ground".

"Oh--OK sweetie...whatever you say".

That night I saw this story on the news:

Guess I'll take her more seriously next time.

2009-11-27T22:27:00.007-07:00

After much consideration (and a not-so-subtle poll of my friends) I decided that Mikayla's earings were not quite even. SUCH a bummer. So, today I took her back to the mall to have one ear re-done--But we couldn't go alone! Paige and Emily both came with us to help distract her (and eat ice cream, of course). Because the line was short, we stopped to say hello to Santa on our way out. Aren't they cute? People kept thinking they were sisters. Be grateful you weren't in the car with us on the way home, though. I couldn't hear myself think over all the giggling :)

2009-11-05T20:09:00.005-07:00

When Mikayla asked me, I told her that she could get her ears pierced when she decided that she was ready for that responsibility (and the pain). Several months passed, until she decided she wanted to go for it when she turned 7. So, as a birthday gift from Grandma Cori and Papa Craig:

Before (with a few butterflies)

..and After
She wanted her friend, Paige, there with her for moral support. The two of them giggled the entire time we were at the mall.

Now, we have 8 weeks of cleaning 3 times a day. We'll see how that goes!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T15:53:00.005-07:00

My darling girls all ready to go trick-or-treating:

It was so fun having Grandma Cori with us this year!

My little troublemaker

2009-09-30T13:40:00.004-06:00

Aubrey and I have been having a lot of time alone together now that Mikayla is in school all day. It's been really nice to sit and play just the two of us--and she definately keeps me entertained with her funny little jabber (I'm lucky to get a word in edgewise).

Yes, I sure do love my Aubrey-girl, but lately she has been giving me a run for my money. Here's the proof:

Nice. But she wasn't done yet. I cleaned her up and sent her out of the kitchen so I could clean up the floor, so she decided to head upstairs and...

get out every game she could reach. Honestly, this wouldn't be so bad if she would then play with them for more than 5 minutes.
Then, not too long ago, she decided to mix the powdered sugar with the flour. Not sure what she was trying to make, but here's the lovely result:

At least she tried to sweep it up before I found her :)
Thanks for keeping me on my toes, Aubrey!

My little first grader

2009-09-08T16:36:00.007-06:00

I've been neglecting my blog this summer, but this is too big a moment to ignore. Mikayla was so very excited to start school and here she is on her first day:

This year she has the greatest teacher--Mrs. Johnson. I am so impressed with her...and the best part?? She doesn't believe in giving 1st graders homework! Just daily reading :) Aubrey and I took her to school for the first day (it's a long story), and it was a challenge for me to get a picture with just Mikayla. Aubrey wanted to be a part of every one. You can see her little elbow in the picture above, 'cause she thought she was in that one too! Here they are together:

I felt a little emotional leaving my daughter in the care of another for the whole day, but it was Aubrey who cried on the way home! Those two are such good friends (most of the time).

Our summer was pretty layed back. We spent a lot of time in the backyard doing the usual: swimming pool, sprinklers, trampoline...and playing with all the neighborhood kids.

But we also took a lot of day trips--and spent nearly every Monday night at The Gardens!

(This was taken the evening of "Christmas is July" at Thanksgiving Point. Mikayla was happy to get cozy with Santa, but Aubrey had a tight grip on me and wouldn't even look at him).

OK, let me explain this clip below. I took the girls to yet another activity at The Gardens--This one was a giant slip-n-slide. The video I have of Mikayla is long and boring--but this guy (that I do not know) gave everyone a great show:

Such a great summer--

The things we do for our kids...

2009-06-30T12:11:00.011-06:00

Last night we went to the Thanksgiving Point annual summer jello fight. Mikayla has been looking forward to it since school got out, so we packed some sandwiches and headed off. I had no idea what to expect and as it turns out, we were very unprepared. It was one of the funniest/strangest things I have ever seen: Boys and girls, men and women all digging into buckets of jello and throwing it at eachother. It was hilarious! Mikayla and Aubrey were a bit timid, but they got in there and got a little messy:

Aubrey decided that she did not like it, after all. You can't really hear her, but she's crying "No like it!!" and I am backing up from her to keep her from putting her sticky little hands on me :)

The best part is that afterwards, they turn on the sprinklers and everyone runs around and rinses off. Too funny.

I, of course, stayed a safe distance from all the craziness and just used the zoom on my camera. Wouldn't you?

I Heart Spring!!

2009-05-22T13:47:00.011-06:00

It feels sooo good to spend time outside everyday--Here's what we've been up to lately:

Thanksgiving Point :) We just got a membership for the year and I'm loving it! The gardens are so beautiful and relaxing...and the kids both burn off a lot of energy. Hey--anyone else out there with a membership?? Let's go together...

Mikayla had her dance recital a couple weeks ago, and she did such a great job. I wish I had better video, but this is all I got with my little camera. She is in the back row and is the first to stand up:

We're so proud of you, Mikayla. Great job!

(Mikayla with her best friend, Paige)

Playing Catch-up

2009-05-04T12:36:00.004-06:00

I just realized that in all the chaos, I never posted any pictures of Easter. Kale was in bad shape this day, so he didn't get to join in for the easter egg hunt, but the kids had such a great time with Uncle Shane, Aunt Shea, Bryce and Brittnie...and of course, Mom and Grandma. Pictures of the girls in their Easter best are to the right.

Update

2009-05-01T19:30:00.004-06:00

Kale has been home for a week now and seems to be progressing normally. He had his staples taken out on Monday and he has a nice long scar (about 7 or 8 inches) down his lower back. He is following doctor's orders and staying in bed much of the day...only getting up for 20 minutes at a time. It's making both of us a little bit bonkers, but it's for the best. We have high hopes for a full recovery and years of no more back pain!
That's all for now. I took the girls to the tulip festival at Thanksgiving Point tonight, so I'll post pictures of that later. It was so much fun!

Surgery Today

2009-04-17T09:43:00.003-06:00

Kale was taken to the hospital due to, among other things, severe leg pain and numbness. He was admitted on Wednesday night and as of this morning is scheduled for a spinal fusion later this afternoon. He is feeling well at the moment, but I am so anxious about the whole thing. We feel very blessed that Kale has been diagnosed and is being operated on by the best Neurosurgeon in Utah. Everyone we talk to says there's no one better than Dr. Reichman. I'll post an update as soon as I can.

My sweet Aubrey

2009-03-29T15:52:00.018-06:00

Just over two years ago, our family was blessed with a new little baby girl. Yesterday we celebrated-- Tinkerbell style.

Her birthday was on Thursday, but the party was scheduled for Saturday so that we could celebrate with family. She knew she was having a party soon, so she was VERY excited when I got her up from her nap and took her downstairs where I had spent the last 1 1/2 hours decorating and frosting cupcakes--"Aubrey party, Aubrey party". She even took the time to take a bunch of pictures for her mom. Isn't that nice of her?

This little girl brings such joy to our family. You know--the kind of joy that feels your heart so full you think it may burst. Here are some of the little things I adore about her:

1. She is my good little helper. She's always the first to respond when I say it's time to clean up. The other day, she and I were playing Polly Pocket before naptime. When I decided it was time for bed, I picked her up and started walking out of the room. She surprised me when she said, "Mommy. Clean up."

2. She is very tender and loving. She has genuine concern for others when they are sad or hurt.

3. She says the funniest things. The other day I was changing her diaper and she looks at me and says, "Have mercy". WHAT? I laughed so hard. I guess she's picking up a few one-liners from watching Full House. (You know---Uncle Jessie).

4. She adores her whole family...especially her big sister. Watching the two of them together is good for my heart.

5. She always wakes up happy and smiling. Whether it's in the morning or after nap, she smiles and says, "good morning!".

6. She just makes me smile.

7. Her giggle is infectious.

8. She loves to cuddle. When she gives hugs, she always rubs and pats my back.

I love you my sweet Aubrey-bug! I'm so glad Heavenly Father sent you to our family--

Thank you Melinda!

2009-03-25T10:44:00.003-06:00

I have the sweetest friend ever! My cold from last week took a turn for the worse on Saturday when Kale left for Georgia, and my dear friend Melinda has been so good to me--I just have to brag about her. It was clear early Sunday morning that I had an ear infection, and as I was loading up my kids in the car to come with me to an urgent care clinic, she came running across the street, scooped Aubrey from my arms and took both girls to her house for nearly the entire day. She made us dinner and then insisted on having them over again this morning before Kindergarten starts so I could get some rest (I'm still so sick....??). Isn't she the best? As if she doesn't already have her hands full with her own 6 kids. Thanks, Melinda! I'm so lucky to have a friend like you.

2009-03-12T15:42:00.005-06:00

Spring is coming soon so I've been making extra time to play in the snow while we still have it. Even as I type, I can hear snow melting off of the roof and the backyard is nearly all grass again. Mikayla would spend all day outside sledding if I would let her...but Aubrey had a different feeling about it: "No yike it" and ""is cody face" (it's cold on my face). She prefers to just walk around in it.
**I can't figure out how to get the video of the kids sledding (below) to work in this post. Any ideas?**

Grandma Debbie came along too!

2009-01-21T08:27:00.007-07:00

Just a quick catch-up:
The holidays came and went quickly, but with lots of fun memories made. Christmas eve was celebrated here at our house with lots of activity and family. Here are the kids decorating cookies for Santa--

and opening some gifts--

and acting out the Nativity-- (Aubrey was an angel, Hunter was a wiseman, Mikayla was Mary and Papa Craig played the part of Joseph---per Mikayla's request. Shea was an angel with Aubrey)

Then, we had a relaxing Christmas morning all warm in our house while it was a blizzard outside.
Here's Aubrey finishing up the cookies that Santa left behind--

waiting for Daddy--

and opening up presents!

While my parents were in town, we went to see the lights at Temple Square:

Then, for New Years we had more family and friends over. Mikayla's friend Paige came for a "late over" (I don't do sleep-overs yet) and I moved the clocks ahead 3 hours so the kids could celebrate the new year before bedtime :)

Gotta run...I still have some reading to do before class today.

2008-12-15T20:50:00.006-07:00

I guess it's time to join the rest of you in the christmas season--Don't you just love this time of year? The tree is decorated, the garland is hung, and I'm am planning our Christmas Eve festivities. We'll have a lot of family to be with and I'm really looking forward to it. Grandma Johansson is even bringing some of her fabulous nativity costumes for the little ones to put on a show! I can't wait to read about what all of you are doing this year to celebrate the birth of our Savior. Happy Holidays!

Picking out our christmas tree

...and bringing it home!

Mikayla and Aubrey decorating their little tree.

2008-11-10T21:08:00.003-07:00

We had another great Halloween this year. Mikayla decided early on that she wanted to be Dorothy and Aubrey just got the warmest costume that I could find for a toddler: a butterfly. I was planning for cold weather, but it was a very mild evening (although we did get rained on). The morning started out with getting Mikayla ready for school and watching her Halloween parade. My mom and dad were in town, so they came along with us.

There she is waving to us....followed by another dorothy.

Mrs. Earls afternoon kindergarten class.

The girls with Papa Craig and Grandma Cori right before Trick-or-Treating.

Grandma Debbie and Uncle Shane brought over a special treat.

I talked them into pausing for a quick picture between houses.

All done! Time to head home and get dried off!

It's always fun to enjoy halloween through the eyes of my kids. Aubrey was in absolute awe at every door she went to. She'd come down the driveway grinning and showing us her "treat". Such fun :)

2008-10-21T21:37:00.010-06:00

Here's what we've been up to:

Mikayla started Kindergarten...Yeah! She has been waiting for SO long, it seems. Her first day was anything but dull: Her teacher put her on the wrong bus home! So, there I am, at the bus stop with my camera at eye level waiting for her to come off the bus...and waiting...and waiting. No Mikayla. Luckily, Kale was with me so he drove around to the other stops while I was on the phone with the bus dispatch. We soon found our little girl---the last kid on another bus in the neighborhood. I was worried that she would be upset, but nope. She couldn't have cared less-- She simply made friends with the bus driver. That's my girl.

Oh--You may have noticed that she has a broken arm. Yup. She fell off her scooter one night and broke her elbow. Poor thing! She was a trooper, though, and only had to wear the cast for 5 weeks. (I'm SOOO glad that's over.)

October 4th was Mikayla's 6th birthday. She decided (with some parental persuasion) to have a hawaiin-themed party this year. It was such a blast! The kids made lei's and learned a hula dance (thanks, Shea!) that they performed for all the adults. They were very serious about their dance moves. Check out this video:

After opening presents, we played some games and had cake and ice cream. My dad helped bake the cake and my mom helped decorate....cute, huh? (and easy, too).

I am so lucky to have such a sweet little girl to call my own. Here are some of the things that I love about her:

She does silly things to make Aubrey laugh when she gets hurt.

She is kind and loving to her friends. The other day she told me that "it is ok to laugh when someone makes a mistake ONLY if they are laughing too...otherwise it is NOT ok because it will make them feel bad."

She is fun to be around--Her giggle is so genuine and infectious.

She sleeps in until 9:00am!!!

She loves to learn. Today she came home from school with her new homework folder for the week and she sat right down to the kitchen table and got to work on it!

She includes her little sister in playtime with her friends. Aubrey gets to be the little sister when they play house.

She loves to sing and she has an adorable little voice. Here's a video of her singing I Am a Child of God when she was barely 2 years old:

We are so lucky to have her! Has anyone figured out how to make time stand still?? Because I'm afraid she is going to grow up in the blink of an eye. It's already happening too fast. I love you Mikayla!

Summertime

2008-08-30T21:38:00.016-06:00

We have had such a great summer & I have been feeling guilty for getting so behind on what we've been up to. My excuse for not e-mailing pictures out to family is that I have this blog, but I haven't been keeping up on it.....so, we're going to do a little catch-up!

To start off the summer, Mikayla took swimming lessons. She learned to go under the water and swim short distances and she had a really great time. We'll have to take another course level for her to be able to swim on her own, though. Here she is with her goggles on waving to Aubrey & me.

In June, we went with the Wheat's to a carnival at the park by their house. We saw lots of interesting workers (it may be a job requirement to be missing at least 4 teeth) and got tons of cute pictures of the kids.

The 4th of July was a lot of fun, too. Kale & I took the girls to a parade--and we did fireworks that night.

(Mikayla and I decorated her scooter & Aubrey's stroller.)

Later that month we went to the American Fork Canyon for a picnic when Grandma and Grandpa Johansson & the Froebe's were in town. Mikayla & Mason searched for bears while Aubrey & Michael were quite happy to play in the dirt and rocks.

(Poor Aubrey had a run-in with my bed frame & got a nice shiner.)

What would summer be without a few trips to the Thanksgiving Point Farm & Gardens? As usual, the pony ride was the most exciting part for the kids.

Last, but not least, I took the girls to the zoo with my grandparents, aunts, cousins---& their kids. We really should go there more often--it was a lot of fun. Below is a picture of Mikayla with my cousin, Kylie. She was such an amazing help with my girls. Too bad she lives so far away--or I'd hire her every weekend!

Family Vacation

2008-06-08T21:46:00.008-06:00

A few weeks ago we took a trip to California to visit with Papa Craig and Grandma Cori and to take the girls to Disneyland. We had such a great time being together as a family and we made so many memories. The whole vacation was wonderful---minus the 10 hour drive from Utah. Why is it that my kids don't sleep in the car?? Anyway, here are some of my favorite pictures from the week:

Just arriving at Disneyland

I love my mom!

Roasting marshmellows----Yum!

Mikayla loved playing in the water

The best part of the trip was Disneyland. The weather couldn't have been nicer and the park wasn't very crowded either! Click below to see some pictures from that day.

Mother's Day

2008-05-15T21:24:00.004-06:00

Mikayla's sweet preschool teacher, Ms. Sherri, helped the kids put together a really cute program last week to celebrate Mother's Day. They were so adorable...I thought I'd post some pictures. I am the luckiest mom!

McKenzey, Savannah, Mikayla, Bo, Hyrum, Addie, Abbie

Surgery Day

2008-04-08T21:20:00.008-06:00

I am so glad that this day is finally over! Everything went well this morning when Aubrey had tubes put in her ears---Hopefully this will be the end of chronic ear infections so she can get back to being healthy. She was a real trooper and even though she was hungry and tired she still managed to flirt with the doctors and nurses. I think the worst part for her was trying to wake up after being under general anesthesia, but after an hour or so she was back to her old self. She is tucked comfortably in bed now--and that's right where I'm headed too!

By the way--Thanks to everyone for your prayers and words of encouragement (I'm a baby, I know).

Aubrey's 1st Birthday!

2008-04-02T11:48:00.003-06:00

Aubrey turned 1 last Wednesday, the 26th of March. I can't believe it has been a year already! It seems like just yesterday that my mom and I were making lap after lap around the block trying to get my labor started. Our family has been so blessed to have this sweet little addition---She is such a joy.
On Saturday we had a party with some Aunt's & Uncle's & Cousin's. Mikayla helped me decorate with a rubber ducky theme and we all had a really great time celebrating. Here are some pictures for those of you who couldn't make it. We missed you!

The best part of the day was watching her with the cake. She was in heaven!

Check out this video:

Can you tell that it's a bathtub cake??

Easter

2008-03-30T21:50:00.005-06:00

Some grandparents out there have been asking for pictures of the girls in their Easter best. Luckily our church doesn't start until 1:00, so I had plenty of time in the morning after pancakes to follow the girls around the house begging them to say cheese. Wish we could have been with all of our family on that special sabbath day. Love you!

TaDa!

In other news...

2008-03-19T22:12:00.002-06:00

Mikayla lost her top 2 teeth last week! She was happy to have the toothfairy visit twice, though. My little girl is growing up...

2008-03-19T21:30:00.006-06:00

I just had to write a quick thank-you to my mom for coming all the way to Utah to take care of our girls while Kale and I had some much needed time away. It was a lot of work, (believe me, I know) but she somehow handled it all and was even sad to leave! Mikayla and Aubrey just adore her and are so lucky to have her (and so am I!).

Our few days away were anything but uneventful. Kale had a tradeshow to attend in Atlanta, so I went along to meet a few of his clients and to spend a couple days in Gainesville, GA with his sister, Kandis, and her family---Jeff, Mason and Michael. Well, I don't know if any of you heard--but we had to share the city with a tornado! Downtown Atlanta was hit pretty hard on Friday night so we stayed in Gainesville the next day instead of making the 1 hour drive to the city like we had planned. The hotel where we planned to stay had tons of blown-out windows and people reported that there was luggage and furniture on the street below. The Georgia World Congress Center where the tradeshow was being held was hit pretty hard as well and lost a lot of it's roof. We were sure glad that we weren't there....but on Saturday (right as my nephew Mason was about to start his pirate birthday party) we had another tornado to worry about...and it was headed right in our direction. At the last minute, the kids were scooped up and we found shelter in neighbor's basement while we waited out the storm. Luckily, it passed without touching down near us, but it did cause a lot of damage to homes and two people died. Scary. Since the Congress Center was closed, Kale didn't have to work, so we spent 2 days at a chateau nearby---and that was relaxing and wonderful. We had a really great time--ate lots of good food--and got caught up on some much needed rest (but it's nice to be home).

Georgia World Congress Center

The Westin

Happy Birthday Mason!

2008-02-07T13:51:00.000-07:00

Not much new to report--just snow, snow and more snow. Kale was in Boston when we had the worst storm yet--last Sunday we had so much white stuff dropped in our neighborhood that church was cancelled! The girls and I watched out the window from upstairs as a dozen men walked from house to house with snow blowers and shovels to help out poor women like me who would have otherwise been snowed-in. Thanks Eric and Brother Farmer (and son) for all your help!

Yeah! I can get out of my driveway!

Here's what else is new in the Mount household:

Mikayla is learning how to read in preschool and she is VERY excited about it. One of her favorite things to do is play outside in the backyard where we have a huge pile of dirt (that is now covered in snow, of course) and sled down it...backwards. The kid has no fear....until she gets hurt.
Aubrey is crawling all over the place and she doesn't want anything to do with baby food anymore. She only wants to eat what the rest of us are eating (cheese is currently her favorite food next to ice cream). The most exciting thing is that she has started signing and talking. She can sign "milk" and "more" and she says "hi" everytime she waves (which is whenever anyone walks into the room). She also says "dad" and she points at everything and say's "what's that" (although it sounds more like "uh-dat"). Not bad for a 10 month old :)
Kale is travelling a lot right now. Boston last weekend, Las Vegas this weekend, and a few days in Chicago before the month is over. We really miss him when he's gone--but we get to talk to him whenever we want, and we appreciate how hard he works to provide such a wonderful life for us.
I am back in school 2 day's a week. Someday I'll finish. Someday. For now, the time away from being Mom is actually quite relaxing. Getting papers written and presentations prepared while taking care of kids during the day is another story....
I'll have some new pictures to post as soon as I can get them off my camera. I seem to be having some technical difficulties....

Christmas Pictures

2007-12-21T20:33:00.000-07:00

It has been a journey trying to get a good family christmas picture this year. Aubrey never seemed to be interested in cooperating at the right time...so, here is a collection of our "good enough" christmas pictures:

We went to Temple Square a few days ago with Grandma Cori who was here for a while taking care of her mom. It was COLD, but we had a great time and Aubrey got a kick out of all the lights.

Mike, Hunter, Danielle, Kale, Me, Aubrey, Mom & Mikayla

Mikayla tried to keep Hunter in the picture-

A quick catch-up

2007-12-14T17:09:00.000-07:00

Halloween and Thanksgiving have come and gone and I am just now posting some pictures of the family. My sisters came over with their families to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. The kids all looked so cute and they got enough candy to last a year. Good thing they have their parents to help them eat it!

"Aubrey was a little lamb"

The Wheats

The girls and I spent thanksgiving with the Child family while Kale was, of course, in Chicago. We stayed in cabins at Aspen Grove for a few days and had a great time even though we were all battling colds. Mikayla and I even went ice blocking on some ice the guys took from the swimming pool! Mikayla could be found night and day sliding down the stairs on the extra mattresses--that made for some good video to show her dad. It was good to spend some time with extended family that we don't get to see very often. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! We had a blast.

I had to try it out a couple of times.

Aubrey spending some quality time with Grandpa Child.

Thanksgiving Day Bingo

Tanner & Hunter staying up late.

Danielle & I tried to keep warm indoors.

Aubrey is all ready for our walk to the lodge for some Thanksgiving turkey!

Now, we are on to the Christmas holiday...and the girls couldn't be happier. I told Kale that we were going to get a reasonably sized christmas tree this year and somehow we came home with a 12-footer. I don't know how he does it....but I caved. It was lots of fun decorating while standing on a ladder :) Thankfully we are all healthy now and are enjoying christmastime!

It took me half of the morning just to get the lights on. (Kale had to do the very top)

Mikayla and Paige decorated the little tree for the girls upstairs.

Happy Birthday Mikayla!

2007-10-28T18:36:00.000-06:00

We have been in party mode the last week here at the Mount household. My sister, Danielle, and I spent hours decorating our unfinished basement for Mikayla's halloween birthday party last Saturday. It was such a blast! She invited 8 friends plus her 5 cousins (not to mention Grandma Debbie and all her nearby aunts and uncles). All in all I'd say the party was a success--Lots of laughter and fun. Among other things, we did an art project, played pin the stem on the pumpkin and had a pinata with way too much candy (thanks for spearheading that one, Kale!).
The kids all looked so cute in their costumes!

"Glinda" with her Carpenter cousins

Thanks to everyone who helped out!

2007-09-13T16:04:00.000-06:00

So far so good with the sleep training! We decided to let her "cry it out" because nothing else was working. Kale had the hard part, though....I went over to Debbie's house to sleep for a few hours that first night so I wouldn't rush in and pick her up. Luckily Aubrey is a quick study---she is waking only once at night now!! We may get back to normal again after all :)

I have been feeling bad that I don't have as many baby pictures of Aubrey as I do of Mikayla so I got to work--Here are a few of my favorites:

Sitting up all by myself! (5 months)

Little "Bow" Peep (as her daddy calls her)

Playing blocks with Mikayla

2007-09-01T12:06:00.000-06:00

I'm already getting behind! The summer has come and gone and I haven't posted a single picture for grandma's and grandpa's to see. I think if I had ONE decent night's sleep I'd be a different person. Hopefully by next week that will be the case. Last night I decided that I was no longer feeding Aubrey at 12:00...and 3:00...and 5:30 as she has come accustomed to. I thought it was going to be a disaster, but she handled it pretty well (but I'm a wreck). Wish me luck for tonight!

We have had a really great summer...afternoons at the pool, a couple of weeks in California (including Sea World) and lot's of playing with friends, but Mikayla is ready for school to start next week.

She has a new best friend who moved in across the street--Paige--and they play together EVERY single day. It's great because they just bounce back from one house to the other and they adore each other.

Kale and I also just celebrated our 7th anniversary about a month ago. We went to dinner at the Tree Room in Sundance which was wonderful until after dessert when Kale announced that he had a kidney stone and needed me to drive him to the hospital. He spent the rest of the evening in pain and drugged up. That was an unforgetable night!

As for Aubrey, she is 5 months old now and she just learned how to sit by herself and she loves eating solid foods (just rice cereal and pears so far). I'll post pictures of that soon!

Preschool

2007-06-18T16:49:00.000-06:00

Mikayla just finished up her first few months of preschool. "Ms. Sherri" has been a great teacher and Mikayla has come to look forward to every Tuesday and Thursday. She even got to go on a fieldtrip which she really loved. The experience has been so good for her and we look forward to starting up again in the fall. They finished up the year with a cute program where the kids sang some of their favorite songs (Mikayla was the whale with a polka dot tail). Kale and Aubrey and I all went to watch and cheer her on.

Peer Pressure

2007-06-18T16:35:00.000-06:00

Well, I finally succumbed to peer pressure to start a family blog (thanks Kandis and Shea). Our family is growing and changing...here are a few pictures to get started. I hope I can keep up with this... :)