Heard Around the House...

Kai is leaning against the couch focused on a small toy he has in the palm of his hand.

Ash: Kai what are you doing?

Kai: I'm pretending to be a Daddy.


Pause as he continues to study this thing and push on it.


Ash: What are you the Dadddy doing then?

Kai: I'm working on my iPhone.

Hmmm...........................monkey see, monkey do :)

Getting Better...

... but still needs a catcher after a few minutes. :)

The Newest Addtion to Our "Sports Game Room"

Contest anyone?

Scoping It Out:


Touchdown Dance:


Scoping it Out:


Victory Smile:

Sunny Weather =

-Washing the Cars

-Playing Outside

-A trip to the Zoo with Friends



Oh, and we made some movies while Daddy was at work today that we thought the grandparents and great grandparents might enjoy.



These last 2 need a little explanation. For Christmas Lance and I got Kai some kids books that tell scripture stories. We've been reading 2 or 3 of the short little stories with him at night before bed. Turns out he thinks it is really fun to memorize things- mind you I don't have these memorized as well as he does. :)

Rori's 6 Month Stats

Height: 28 inches = Above the Curve (Avg. Height of 9 month old)

Weight: 16.2 pounds = 50%

Head: 17 inches = 75%

And for fun...

Rori at 6 Months:


Kai at 6 Months:

Valentines at the Cab

We headed up to the "Cab" (as Kai likes to call it) at Bear Lake this weekend. We pulled up the 4-Wheelers and Tyler's family pulled up a big trailer. Grandma had already made her way up there earlier in the day.

On the way up the trailer had a bit of an adventure making it up the last hill, but in the end all was well and Tyler and Lance were able to get all the stuff in to the Cabin on Saturday. It was hard work and they did an awesome job when many of the rest of us might have called it an impossible task. (Think deep snow, slippery ice spots, and a long uphill driveway).

Kai and Kennedy had a blast together as usual. They played all Saturday without any real toys and never once had any kind of argument. Saturday night we all had some pizza together before the others hit the road for home. Our little family stayed on one more night and enjoyed playing in the Cabin's fun tub and reading by the cozy fireplace.

It was a nice getaway on Valentines!

Valentines Breakfast:




The Dancers:




The Gymnastics Show:




Little Miss Loving the Love Sac:


The Brothers at Work:


Daddy Time:


Bathing in the Trough Jetted Tub:


Despite this Photo- They both loved it! Ha!:


Rori and Mommy Enjoyed this View at the 7:20am Feed:

Rori at 6 Months

Rori is 6 months old today. Crazy! In some ways these 6 months have gone by so fast. It is hard to remember life before she was here already. Here are 6 things we'd like to remember about Rori at 6 months:

1) At 4 months the magic switch seemed to go off (as it seems to be with both of our kids) and since then she has been a really happy and smiley baby. She brings in lots of attention with her big open mouth smiles.

2) We named her Rori and well- she continues to sport her strawberry hair and sometimes fiesty little attitude. We wonder if the hair is going to stay this color, or???

3) She is rolling all over the place and can sit unassisted for 10-30 seconds before slowly toppling to a side. It's tough when you are so tall! :)

4) She seems to love all baby food so far and we are often surprised by how much she can consume. We really think she is dying to get in to more real food.

5) The real food would be tough though because there aren't any teeth yet. The drooling and chewing on EVERYTHING continue.

6) She LOVES baths, her dolly, watching everything her brother does, being tickeled, and looking in the mirror at that very happy baby that is always there.

Things You Love

Kai brought this home from Primary on Sunday. He told me that it was a Valentine for me and I told him I loved it and promptly put it up on the fridge.

Sadly I didn't really focus on it again until today when I was getting out of the fridge the stuff for lunch. I asked Kai about the project and he told me that their teacher asked them what things they love and then wrote the things on the strips of paper which the kids then glued on to the heart. They apparently also decorated with stickers with is a big hit at our house these days.

So after closer inspection here is what some of the strips say:

-Grandpa
-Grandma
-Mommy
-Daddy
-Rori
-Amanda (his neighborhood friend)
-Heavenly Father

And my very favorite one is the 2nd from top that is upside down. Can you read what it says?......... It says Mommy's Sister. Isn't that sweet? Now I'm curious to ask his teacher how that conversation went.

It is a fun time of year to think about the things that you love. And this was a cool valentine!

A Catch Up Visit

We had so much fun spending time with my friend Rebecca and her family this weekend. They had made the trip from CA to Park City for a family ski trip. On Saturday the kiddos and I went up to Park City to hang out with them and then on Sunday they came to our house for dinner. It was especially fun to get to meet their little girl Charlotte for the first time. It is neat to have friends in your life that you are able to bounce right back in with even after not seeing each other for years.

Rebecca and I first met our Freshman year of College at Pepperdine. Among other things we lived together all 4 years, cheered each other on at our respective sporting events (Rebecca was the #1 CC runner at Pep at the time), lived and traveled everywhere together on our overseas London program, pledged a sorority together, and had a crazy number of other adventures and laughs. Rebecca watched Lance and I go on our first dates, watched me grow up while he was on his Mission, and then later watched us get married as one of my bridesmaids.




Hopefully we can get together again sometime soon.

Playing At Home

We stayed home all day today and it was nice. I got some laundry and organizing done, but mostly we just played. Sometimes we just need days like that. Days where we have all of Mom's attention and we aren't rushing around. So among other things we.....

.....had contests with this super cool Christmas gits.




.....pretended to have a kids only sleepover in Kai's room.




.....worked on our rolling as a means of getting to Kai's toys.

Camera Fun

 

Little Moments

Yep, it is somehow already February. Sometimes it seems the days go by slow (we miss Daddy when he is at work), but the weeks and months really do seem to go by fast. So fast that it alarms me a little sometimes. Kai still has his little boy moments, but there are an awful lot of big boy moments these days too. It makes me want to capture in my memory the little memories of the kiddos at each stage. Like right now all of the funny things Kai says and does, Rori's soft little fingers that she slowly rubs against us while she is eating, Kai's out of the blue "I love you's" and snuggles, and the way Rori looks at Kai and just giggles for joy when he gets close enough to reach out towards. Life is funny that way- I think most of us spend a lot of it wishing for time to fast forward or go in reverse. It's hard not to sometimes.

We took a quick trip to the Zoo yesterday. The sun was shining so we bundled up the kiddos and went in search of the animals. We wondered what Rori must have been thinking of it all.







In honor of the Super Bowl today we made this Buffalo Chicken Soup in the crockpot. It was actually pretty tasty for those who enjoy an occasional spicy chicken wing but don't want to deal with bones or messy fingers. I'm a crockpot fan. I think it is great to be able to dump a buch of things in a pot in the morning and then have something smelling delicious ready to go when you get home. I don't think I'm ready to try what this lady did quite yet though. In fact that might make me hate the crockpot. :)



And one last thought:


Be clear about your goal but be flexible about the process of achieving it.
Brian Tracy