Is It Naptime Yet

So here are the Halloween pictures. My friend Anna made the Incredibles costume for Lilah and Eden was a purple ladybug…what Lilah was two years ago. I was suppose to hem Lilah’s costume but I ended up not having time.

Here are the cupcakes I made for the Trunk or Treat that was Friday the 28th. I had strawberry shortcake green…so they look like they were on radio active grass. oh well.

Last Saturday we got family pictures done. Can I say I never realized how hard it is to get my two girls to smile at the same time, especially by a stranger. Lilah just stared at him until he started bonking his head with a toy and would say oh. Then she was so excited, or nervous, that her tongue would stick out. Here are the pictures we decided to get and I put some of the others because it shows our adventures in getting smiles. I don’t know why I want more kids…it just adds to the number of people and the length of time it will take to get a descent picture of all of us.

Jon wanted this one because Eden was playing with her hair and it looks like bunny ears. It’s so Eden becasue she constantly plays with her hair.

Here are the one we didn’t get copies of. If you want one of these…let us know and well send you a bill with the picture. 🙂

As I look at this one it makes me want it instead of the second one we ordered of Eden.

I wanted this one taken because we have one of Lilah like this, but Eden’s pants are so long that it just looks bad.

We didn’t know how much Marie, an old family friend, spoiled us. She would give us free sittings, free smiles by wire, how we have these on-line copies, each sheet for $3.99 and then she would order more and give us the ones that they show you when you pick up your order, in hopes that you’d buy more. This time we had to get the portrait club card because it gives us free sittings for two years, a savings of $50-70 if we have a third child. Then we only get what we order, but we had the coupon for $3.99 a sheet, instead of $9.99. We did order enough to give to some to immediate family…I am terrible about giving pictures though. I have all of ours from last year when Eden is two months old. In part because they change so fast…now Eden will mostly look like what she does now so I feel more comfortable giving them out.

So we went to Idaho Falls this weekend. My Father’s side had a family reunion. Our first stop was in Logan Utah. It took us ten hours to get there, instead of nine, because we missed exits and had to backtrack to fill up gas tanks. We got there at 10:00 pm Utah time. We stayed at Jon’s niece’s house, Shauntae. We didn’t get any pictures of us or her family, but here is one with Matthew, her youngest.

Lilah sliding, she didn’t want to leave, and Matthew.

He’s the baby and he kept saying how he didn’t like babies. He was cute though…it’s hard when you’re two to have a family invade your house.
It snowed the night we were there, at least in the mountains around us

The mountains outside Shauntae’s house.

It was a nice sunny 85 degrees on Wednesday then Thursday the temperature dropped and a cold front moved in. Utah and Idaho were freezing…well really cold. We also had a lot of rain driving up. All through Provo until we got out of Salt Lake it rained.

We drove by the Logan temple.

It was stormy on our way out of Logan to Idaho Falls.

We had the reunion at my Uncle Don’s motel. Luckily one of my cousins brought cars for her boys to play with. Lilah had fun, and so did Eden…we just don’t have a picture of her.

Dakota is the boy, my cousin Don Jr’s step son.

Here is my father with four of his five siblings.

(Larry-my dad, Marsha- half sister, Don-brother, Mary- half sister, Mike- half brother.)

Here is a picture of my father’s mother.

After the reunion we visited the graves of family. My great grandparents and my father’s father.
I learned that Dad hung out a lot at his grandparents, the Harvey’s, house.

This is my grandfather’s grave. I also learned that he was a Marine in WWII.

Eden helping us pack.

On Sunday we visited several sites. The first stop was at the trailer park my father was raised in.

The neighbor man brought out his trash and my father recognized him. So even though he hasn’t seen this person in at least 30 years, he went over and introduced himself. (This is just like my dad…he talks to everyone, and anyone he remembers.)

Jon and Lilah in front of the trailer park my father was raised in.

Next we visited the school that my Father went to.

Dad, Uncle Mike, Uncle Don.

Lilah and Alona and a stray dog.

(Alona is my uncle Mike’s granddaughter.)

Alona and the dog.

Lilah on a bench in front of the school.

Our little family visited the Idaho Falls temple next.

Idaho Falls, Idaho Temple

I took the following picture…I’m very proud of it. 🙂

Angel Moroni through the trees.

The falls of the Snake river. These are on the other side of the temple.

We went from Idaho falls to Twin Falls, to Ely. We passed many farm fields. They were so beatiful. We’re just not use to seeing so much farm land.

A field.

Some dairy cows.

Eden being silly in the back seat.

Brien and Andrea told us about Snake River. Andrea was driving so she couldn’t look, but Brien mentioned how amazing the cliffs were and rubbed it in that Andrea couldn’t get a good look. Jon was driving so I teased him as we went over, so he decided to pull over and take pictures.
Pictures do not give it justice.

Snake River, outside of Twin Falls, or Kimberly Idaho, maybe both?

The Hansen Bridge over Snake River

It was beautiful driving through the desert at Sunset. The mountains had a purple hue and you could see so far in the distance. I truly love the desert. I love trees and mountains of other climates, but I love seeing so far onto the horizon and layers upon layers of rolling hills. Jon took this picture at the very end of the sunset.

Sunset outside of Ely Nevada.

We drove through Northern Nevada to Ely on Sunday. Stayed with Andrea and Brien, and on Monday we came home. We had to pick our car from the shop and drop my parents car off at their house. We got home just in time for me to do my assignments for my music class. It was a hectic schedule. It was a fun trip. I think we spent around 27 hours in the car. The girls were quite well behaved. We had one of us in the back seat for the end of certain stretches.

I hope I don’t have to go on a car trip for a while. We’ve done three in the last three months. We haven’t gone on one in two years. I’m glad summer travels are over.

Sorry this took so long to get up. Blogger was giving me trouble, though we think it’s really our internet provider, but I’ve decided to change who hosts my blog.

Enjoy.

So here are lots of pictures from our trip. I just love taking pictures.
We arrived Friday around 3. We just stayed and visited that night. We had delicious homemade pizza, and loved the company. Eden had her own room, except when Jack decided to wake her up. Jon and I slept in the living room on an air mattress and Lilah slept on couch cushions next to us. Somehow in the middle of the night Lilah completely turned around, luckily she was on the floor, and luckily Jon barely missed a foot to the head.

We had a wonderful Saturday. Brien and Andrea made us eggs, sausage, and toast. Lilah helped with the orange juice.

Andrea did Lilah’s hair.

This was just the second day so Lilah was still a little weary of Jack. (By Sunday she was playing fetch with him, and petting him without needing us there.)

Lilah picked the dandelions in the Park’s yard as we waited to get started.

We got out late and it took about an hour to get to Great Basin National Park.

Here’s Andrea’s and Brien on the road in front of us.

Here’s a view of what we saw as we drove.

We stopped at the visitors center to get info and rest. We bought some books, along with a DVD about Topaz camp, in which Jon’s grandfather helped built.

Lilah liked helping Eden walk around.

We drove to a picnic spot and then took a hike. We couldn’t go the full length so we walked just a little of it before we turned back.

Here’s Jon holding Eden…he’s a buff guy.

Here’s Brian getting some Indian rice grass for Lilah.

They spotted a lizard on the hike.

The Parks with Eden and Lilah at the end of the hike. The picture didn’t turn out well, but I wanted to post it anyways.

Us at the end of the hike, notice the rice grass Lilah had. She kept it until it Sunday, in which it started getting brittle and breaking.

We visited the Leman’s cave visitor center. Then we took a drive. We got to 10,000 elevation feet. We stopped at Mather Lookout and took some pictures. (Andrea you need to e-mail me the ones you have.)

I mostly got the view.

By this time it was 2 or so, so we decided to head back home so Brian and Andrea could make their dishes for the ward party, and we could shower.
It was a potluck dinner in which they held a dutch oven contest. If the food was in a dutch oven, they would judge it.
Andrea made my Dad’s famous baked beans. She came in first for main dishes.
Brien made some yummy potatoes. He said he sacrificed the bacon so his wife could come in first. He came in second for side dishes.

After we ate Lilah went and played at the playground.

While their the sprinklers decided to come on. It was only 6:45 pm or so….what park has sprinklers come on in the early evening? Crazy Ely.

After wearing a hat all day on the hike Eden decided to keep her pink hat on that Andrea and Brien gave her as a birthday gift.

We went to sacrament with them on Sunday. The boys and girls went home to make sure the turkey was done in time. I stayed all three hours because Andrea had to teach her Miamaids class. Jon said it was a full time job keeping Eden out of trouble. We had dog toys to keep out of her mouth, Jack to keep from licking her to death, and laptops to keep safe. At one point Eden had one of Jack’s toys and had climb into his little kennel.

The turkey was delicious. Jon took an Excedrin before we left for his headache, and to keep him awake while he drove home.

I’m not sure when we left but we got home around 6:30. At Alamo I went into the back seat. Eden wanted the company. It sure was nice to have Carolyn on the last trip. I realized if she hadn’t been back there it would have gone a little more like this one, with whining and some crying for attention.

All in all, it was tons of fun. I loved seeing my sister and her husband. It was a beautiful day at a national park and lots of good food. I highly recommend Ely, as long as you visit the Park’s.

We had a larger party for Eden on Saturday. It was just family. We had it at the Lee’s, or our adopted family. They live close to us, so I asked to have it there for two reasons: so it wouldn’t be so far away for Jon’s family (or families live on opposite ends of the valley and his parents have a hard time traveling across it), and because our house is too small to fit all our family, so if we had it at there house and then they wouldn’t have to travel to my parents for the party! I live 30 miles round trip from my parents, which mean the Lee’s live about 34 miles round trip. It really eats gas and time.
I designed and made the cake. We just had sandwiches and turkey wraps for dinner.

This was before the candle was lit, but I was taking a video while we sang.
Eden took a while to dig in but she had fun once she did.

Some of the Lee kids. The first one on the Left is there cousin. Then it’s Kierra, Jacob, and Jarom in the helmet.

My dad, he was sleeping before I took this picture.
Brien (BIL) playing with Eden, for whatever reason she liked holding the fork with him.

Ooohhhh, a card and money!
Eden opening gifts.

Family watching the opening of gifts. It’s Dara (Jon’s sister), then Andrea (my sister) and Brien (BIL).

A hat she got. She didn’t leave it on for long though.
Elana(SIL)(Jon’s sister) and Tommy(BIL), then my MIL and Dara.

I still can’t belive she’s one. I guess I’ll just have play with my girls more and do less chores since they’re growing up so fast.

Dear Eden,
You’re one!! I can’t believe you’ve been with our family for only a year. You’ve been so much fun, that’s it’s hard to imagine what we did without you. You have such an infectious smile and you are so kind to almost everyone. You’ve recently started doing a little dance when we sing songs. You’re favorites seem to be “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands” and “Roll your arms.” You’ll dance to anything as long as we dance with you. (Your dance is holding your arms out and doing a little twist at your waist. We’ll get a recording of it later today or this week.) You have so much fun with your big sister and you want to be just where she is, even if that means laying on top of her. You try to build blocks with her, but you’re just not coordinated enough. You can be demanding, but you are still so easy to care for. I can usually read your needs, though you like to throw me for a loop every once in a while. You love staying up at nap time with Lilah and you guys talk to one another. You’re just starting to gain more confidence on standing and walking with our help, and I’m sure you will take off walking as soon as you realize that you’ll be able to keep up with Lilah better. You’re always happy. You do get grumpy, but you happy around 85% of the time. It’s only when you’re frustrated because we took something away, or you’re in timeout that you’re unhappy. You love blankets. You’ll crash your little head into an blanket you see. You love you’re parents. You go crawling to the door whenever you hear that Daddy’s home or Mommy. (It may be that you like to go outside too.) You are a joy to have. I can’t wait to see how your personality grows this next year.

Love,
Mom

Here are some pictures of your birthday. We just had a cake because we’re having a party this Saturday.
You loved your first taste of cake. There’s also a picture of Lilah’s finger with frosting. For some reason she wanted your Daddy to take pictures of her finger with frosting, and for some reason he did. I thought it was funny so that’s why I’m posting it.

So this past weekend we packed up a rental car and traveled up to Salt Lake City, Utah to attend a family reunion. It was for my mother’s family. We took Carolyn with us. The traveling went well no crying or fussing. I believe this was due to Lilah who helped to entertain Eden, Carolyn who also helped to entertain the girls, and Carolyn was able to feed them snacks while on the road. It was fun to have her with us. I wish she would come to our next reunion, but it’s for Jon’s family. I guess I’ll just have to be in the back seat far a little while during the next trip.

Friday we ate dinner at the park with some of the family. Saturday we had breakfast played, lunch, played, and then we went back to the hotel about 3:30. Jon took all the pictures. When we got home we realized that there were nearly none of adults, and none of the extended family. Jon’s excuse was that kids are more interesting plus he was taking care of Lilah most of the time which included her partner in crime, Katy, and the adults really were just sitting around talking, so sorry it’s mostly pictures of my little family and a couple with Carolyn and Andrea. We’ll have to be more diligent at the next reunion, or maybe I’ll have the camera. 🙂

Here is Lilah and Katy running around. The boy is my cousin Jason’s son Zach, which I guess makes him mine once removed and thier’s twice removed? The tall girl is Jason’s “adopted” daughter Katelyn. (I have no idea how she spells Katelyn since everyone spells it differently. )

Here they are throwing sticks into the water, at least that is what Lilah just said.

This is my cousin Michael and his son.Lilah often just climbed around them…sorry.
I just loved these shots.

Our two artists in the sand. Lilah and Kaitlyn ( Katy)

The girls had a fun time finding trees, as Lilah called them.
I just thought it was cute how her bangs are a little sweat soaked.
This is Eden and her cousin four times removed (?) It’s my cousin Jan’s granddaughter Katelyn (again the spelling.) She liked Eden and I’m not sure if she wanted to share her goldfish with her, or if she just wanted to show them to her. She’s a cute girl though.

Cute baby in the grass.

Here’s Andrea and Carolyn playing with a slingshot. We were going to do skits and this was one of the props, but the activity was overlooked. 🙁

Carolyn getting Lilah.
It was a fun adventure. We’ll see if I’m not too pregnant to go next year, or if there are any other road blocks to prevent us from going.

On Lilah’s birthday we went to the park, had lunch at my parents house, but they were gone. We then went to Jo’Ann’s to pick out fabric for the master bedroom curtains. We came home had some naps ate Jack in the Box for dinner and then the family showed up. Jon didn’t get any pictures of Lilah’s blowing the candles out, but this I believe is while we were singing happy birthday.

Here’s Eden trying out one of our new cupboards.

These are our living room curtains. I still need to hem the bottom part, but I wanted them to hang and settle since I have three layers of fabric to work with.

On the 29th we decided to bite the bullet and cut Lilah’s hair. Her hair has never been cut. Jon and I want to cut our own children’s hair, so she was our guinea pig. I did a good job getting the cut even but when I was trying to add a few layers, so it wasn’t just a blunt bob, I got flustered and Jon had to finish. His layering was fine, but mine…we’ll just say it needs to be fix. For now pulling her hair back hides the mistakes. I say we should take her to a place to get it fixed, but he says where’s the drive to become better if we have an out. I just feel bad that she has to live with a botched haircut. She’s cute anyways. I cut just a small amount off to keep, but we probably cut a total of six inches…at least.

This picture doesn’t give a good idea of what it looks like, just the length, and once it’s fixed I’ll post a good one.

This is a picture Jon took of Eden while I was cutting Lilah’s hair.

I just thought it was cute how she was reaching for the camera and smilling.

Other news. We took a video of Eden helping to clean up last night. At first I was holding her arm and helping her do it, then she did it all by herself. I was amazed because she’s not even one, but it’s like hello babies can mimic what you’re doing. She was a little upset when we put the toy drawers away though because she was mimicking not cleaning up. It was cute. I’m pretty sure Lilah was picking up at this point also, but it’s so hard to spend time and remember what you did with the first one. Also the second gets less interaction so it can come as more surprising when they do things. It also served as a reminder that children can do so many things before many adults expect them to. So many people baby their kids in which the expectations are set low, so they don’t do as much for themselves. I am also guilty of this. There have been many a days when I didn’t have patience to let Lilah figure things out and I helped her. In return she occasionally expects my help and gets frustrated when things don’t happen quickly. Patience, patience and space is just what our children need sometimes, so they can discover what they are capable of. Guidance is good, but too much can be bad. We are all capable of amazing feats, and our children are also, we need to discover those hidden talents, and we need to let our children learn and accomplish things on their own. Sorry for the soapbox, just never sell a child short of their potential.

It’ mother’s day. Jon made me a beautiful breakfast, and were’ going to have the day to ourselves, except we will be going to church. Usually we visit our moms but this year were a little anti -Mother’s Day . Not that I think it’s bad to honor our mother’s, but the world is so caught up in buying your mother something and showing you love with a gift/card/chocolate. We just didn’t have the mental energy to think of gifts to buy our Mom’s or cards to make. (Jon’s mom loves the homemade cars we make her.) We just want to enjoy one another without the worries of classes and having to be somewhere. Saturday is our errand day so Sunday is our rest day, but it can be so busy.

I love my mother. She’s been an example to me since I was little. I love my mother-in-law because she doesn’t meddle. I love being a mom and watching my two little girls grow.

Here’s some pictures of what my girls have been up to.

This is from the FHE that we celebrated Jon’s birthday…Eden liked the wrapping paper.

Lilah liked the Leopard.

Where’s Eden?

Peek-a-boo

Lilah “helping” me blow up the pool we just bought.
When I was blowing up the pool Lilah kept giving me hugs and kissings and saying I love you Mommy.

Jon took this picture… he thought we we’re being cute… Lilah liked the show more that the camera.

Eden is now crawling everywhere. I keep forgeting to write that down. I don’t remember when she made the full transition from army crawl on her tummy to totally crawling, but she’s even faster now. It’s only been the last week that’s she been doing it constantly…. so I’m not such a bad mother.