Happy Birthday Anne!

I found a new way to upload pictures on here so I can put more on...I know...you're thinking how can there be more, but we happened to be very snap-happy these past few weeks what with cute kids and muddy runs...so here they are:

Rachel being cute as ever.  

 It is no wonder that I can only do sewing projects while the kids are napping.

 Sunglasses Fun.

 This is mostly how she wears them.  Anne on the other hand would sleep in them if I let her.

 I thought this was a good size comparison for our zucchini crop.  I think it is bigger than Rachel.  We have been very blessed this year with tons of zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, and tomatoes.  We're also hoping we'll have a few pumpkins by Halloween, but we'll see.

 Anne's first crush.  She got this doll from a happy meal that's supposed to be Hansel (from Hansel and Gretel) and one day she kept saying "Kiss Robin!" and point to her doll.  I thought Zac had told her it was Robin Hood or something but when I asked her that she said "No, Chris-fur Robin!" Christopher Robin from Winnie the Pooh.  For the next couple weeks she would carry him around saying "Kiss Chris Robin, I wuv him." And give him lots of kisses and hugs.

 Rachel loves to copy her big sister.

 This is kind of random but since this is also our journal I thought that maybe in 20 years it would be fun to see what kind of exercise I was doing at this point in my life.  I record it to help motivate me to continue and to keep track of my miles.

 Since Rachel is a houdini and managed to wriggle out of both our old high chair and Anne's booster seat, we went and got a new high chair.  Most large kid items we were either given or I find them used for really cheap, but sometimes I think splurging is worth it (though I still got this on sale 30% off:).  This high chair is a breeze to clean and folds up easily when we're not using it.  And best of all, Rachel doesn't even try to escape out of it.  As a bonus, it's Winnie the Pooh themed which both girls love.

 Cool little picture comparison:  Rachel now

 Anne two years ago (In most pictures they look sooooo different, but in this one they actually look relaly similar! It's funny to think though that this is the first time Anne stood by herself and Rachel is starting to walk, crazy.)

 (Above) It's so nice that Rachel is old enough for me to just let the girls play in the tub together.  They have a ball.

This is a cool hairstyle that happened by accident.  I tried to do one of those reverse ponytails and it got stuck but I thought it looked pretty cool.

 Our first cantalope! I was so excited to be able to grow our own fruit!  This one wasn't completely ripe but it was still soooo yummy.

 Now for the birthday festivities.  I can't believe Anne is three.  It brought tears to my eyes when we woke up that morning and I was telling her happy birthday and that I loved her.  We love her so much and we thank Heavenly Father every day that she (and her sister) are in our lives.  Anne, if you read this when you are older, I hope you realize how much your Mom and Dad love you.  I couldn't imagine life without you.  Happy Birthday big girl!

We decided to do a Winnie the Pooh theme since that's her favorite thing right now.  It started off with my first decorated cake ever.  It was a lot of fun to make and Anne recognized that it was Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, so it worked ;)

 While I was making the cake Anne walked in with my shoes on, my glasses on her head and holding the car keys and said "Ok guys, ready to go!" The other day I walked in the kitchen to find her putting her play dishes on the stove and table and she informed me she was making dinner and it would be ready soon.  Love my little junior mom.

 Birthday morning started off with rasberry chocolate chip waffles (which I highly recommend, so yummy) which I let her watch in front of the tv while she watched her Super Why show, a treat.

 Then we got dressed in her new "running clothes" as she calls them.  I was going to dress her in her awesome new princess dress but it was very cold and rainy so this seemed more appropriate.  When we picked it out in the store we looked at the girly pink and purple ones and she didn't seem intrested and then I picked out the black and red one (of course) and she still didn't seem interested.  Then she saw the blue one and grabbed it and said "This one! Bu one! Oh, I wuv it." When I told Zac this he said "Of course, she's a BYU fan, not a U fan."

 Her party room.

 We celebrated with a few of her little buddies, Timothy Evans, Maija Bessey, and Shaely Warburton.  Anne is so blessed to have such wonderful friends that are such good examples to her.

 We played a couple very simple games like pin the tail on the donkey (Eeyore).  And yes, this is without blindfolds and without spinning.

 You'll see from the video below, but we also played a game where they threw bean bags into a "Hunny" pot.  I told Anne to go stand by it so we could take a picture and this is what she did.  It's not THAT kind of honey pot.

 Much better :)

 Anne eating Pooh's head.  (It's a rice crispie treat covered in frosting.)

 Rachel trying to make Daddy share.

 Anne had fun opening presents.  I'm so excited for Christmas!! She understands the concept now and was excited.  Thank you to all of you who were so generous in your gifts for Anne.  It touches us as well as her to know how much she is loved by her friends and family.  These are a bunch of pictures to give those of you who couldn't be there a taste of what it was like.

 (Maija, Shaely, Anne, Timmy)  It was a little tricky to get all the kids to hold still and look in one place, this is the best we got.

 I love all three of the girls' expressions, especially Shaely's :)

Dirty Dash 2011

I put it like that because there will definitely more of these Dirty Dash's in the future.  It was AWESOME!!

It was a 10k with obstacles every.25-.50 miles or so like muddy hills and pools, hay bales, walls, rope swings, rope climbs, a slip n' slide and more.  Such a blast and something I will definitely never forget.

The thing that made it so much fun was running it with my awesome buddy Alexis! :)

 Zac was such an awesome supporter and watched the girls during the race AND took some awesome pictures.  Thanks hun! Next time you'll be running it with me ;)

 I'd like to think she's saying here "Go Mama, go Mama!"

 This was halfway through the race after we had actually gotten mostly washed off by the everglades (a half-mile trudge through waist-deep swamp water).  And yes it looks like I ate dirt, partly because I accidently did at one point and also because my nose itched and I had no clean part of my body to wipe it with.

 Every time I see this picture it always makes me think that I'm kissing an angel.

I love this picture of Ryan (Alexis' husband in the middle with the yellow shirt) going "This is crazy!!"

This shows Anne and Rachel's relationship right now:

This is more of a sound thing cause the video is in the dark, but it's Rachel and Zac wrestling:

And yes, our baby girl took her first steps on the day of her 10 month birthday.  She gets more adventurous with it every day.  We know running is right around the corner.  Look out world!

Pin the tail on Eeyore.

Happy Birthday Anne!

Owies and Big Girls

I just tried to capture the theme of our weather this year.  Wet and Green.  It's been wonderful.  There have even been a few times while I was running that it ALMOST felt like I was back in VA.

 I'm sure Anne's next words were "Oh no! Rachel touch arm. Owie!" She absolutely loves her sister and must have her wherever she goes.  But she also is learning to share and have her space invaded.  Joys of being an older sibling.  I really can't relate.  I know Rachel just wants to be with her older sis, just like I did :)

 Anne is becoming much more social thanks to some awesome buddies.  Timothy and Maija are helping her learn that other kids are fun and nice and just want to be her friend.  Here they are enjoying some popcorn and a movie.  She is also doing better at nursery and stayed almost the whole time on Sunday without crying...yay!!

 I think it was a drumstick last blog, just wanted to show that she likes the healthy stuff too (that's broccoli) :) Those are her favorite toys, the play food.  Which makes sense cause this girl can pack it away.  She eats pretty much the same amount of food as her big sister, and her big sister eats more than most toddlers.  You'd think my kids would be obese or something, but it turns out after Rachel's nine month appointment the other day, both of my girls are in the 4th percentile for weight.  Isn't that nuts?

 She did this all on her own which made her Daddy especially proud.  One day we were playing with the football and she went and got my weight gloves and then said she was ready to play catch.  Our little wide receiver :)

 Anne absolutely loves to run.  She'll run to the end of the sidewalk in front of our house then turn around and run back 20 times in a row.  And she wants us to do it with her so it keeps us in shape as well.  When I take them running in the stroller I always take her out before we get home and let her run and she'll say "I run like Mama too!" Mealts my heart.

 Rachel is very independent and likes to do things herself.  I imagine she and Zac had similar personalities at this age.  She can get anywhere and get into anything...I should say out of anything.  We have to buy a new high chair because no matter how tight we tighten the buckles she manages to wriggle out of them and stand up.

 So we come to the owie part of our blog.  We took a family outing (including Shizzie) to the duck pond then decided to go up the stairs to see the new stream.  On our way up we asked Anne if she wanted help and she said "No, I do it" so we let her.  Well...she took a tumble.  She hit the stair with her face, slid on it a few stairs, then landed on a pole.  Poor thing.  She actually took it pretty well and distracted herself when we got home by pretending to take Shizzie for a walk.  She even did fine when I cleaned her up and put on a bandaid because I told her it looked cute and pretty and she loved it.  Thank goodness for girls and wanting to look cute :)

 While we were outside Rachel showed off her new skill of standing by herself.  She's been doing it for weeks now.  Crazy!

 And as you can see, she's ok.  Even though she looks banged up, this is actually a cute picture of Anne.

 Our big tough girl.

 Anne got ahold of the camera and took this picture.  Not bad.

 This looks like a first day of school picture.  Not for another three years thank goodness.  But she looked so cute I had to capture it.

Here are some pictures from Zac's phone:

Our new hobby..bike riding! I found a used bike and trailer in really good shape for only $70 total! Zac and I love the exercize and the girls love the fun ride.  Rachel finds it a bit too relaxing and usually falls asleep.

 Before we got the trailer we tried one of these seats, but it didn't work on Zac's bike.  The trailer is nice for me cause I can take the girls during the day and go for rides.  Rachel also fell asleep in this seat as well.

 Anne and Zac had a Daddy-daughter date night while I took Rachel took my friends' baby shower.  Anne loved the big snow cone but even more than that I think she loved riding in the jeep with Daddy.

 Cute cheeks...even when they're covered in goo.

 This is kinda blurry but a fun memory for us.  The other night we wanted to take a bike ride so we headed out and a couple minutes after we left we got caught in a huge rainstorm.  So we ducked inside a Burger King to eat dinner.  The girls were perfectly dry so we journeyed on once the rain had stopped.  We biked about four miles to the Riverwoods shops and found this amazing toy store.  They had this free horse ride machine that both the girls loved.  Anne even took the reins like a natural and steadied herself.  The other big attraction for her at the store was the train table.  She spent about twenty minutes playing with the Thomas the Train trains and tracks.  After the toy store we were just walking around the beautiful shop area and we ran into my old friend Wendy and had a good time catching up.  Then it was getting dark and Rachel was ready for bed so we biked the fastest 4.5 miles ever.  Sorry this is lengthy but this is our family journal as well and I just wanted to remember that night.

 Just adorable.

 "I'm ready to go Dad!"

The girls love our weekly Home Depot visits.

 The reason for our weekly Home Depot visits.  I decided to redo our front steps area because the paint was chipping and looking pretty bad.  So first I had to get the old paint off which became quite a process.  I first tried a drill with a wire brush (effective but took forever) then muriatic acid (kind of crazy strong, would've killed our plants), then we decided to go ahead and rent a power washer which worked great.  I have to say...it was fun.

Once the paint was removed (it was originally brown) I fixed the cracks with patching cement, then put on two coats of bonding primer (which was like really sticky glue).  

 Finally I got to add some pretty paint and decorative flakes and voila! Hopefully it looks better than before and I learned so much in the process.  I'm excited to keep learning house repair skills so I can be a little more self-reliant.

 An impromptu FHE at the Provo temple.  Anne and Rachel both loved the fountains and Anne liked to gently touch the pretty flowers.

This is a cool rainstorm we had.  The water you can see that is gushing is actually overflow out of our rain gutters. Weird for Utah.

Our big girl.

Jumping with little ballerina toes.

Anne's favorite phrase these days.

Popscicle

Of course, a dancing video.