Learning to ride a bike

I love this picture of them playing together! My cousin Kerstin captured this picture when I asked her to take some pics of the girls in thier dance outfits. Kate is helping Leah ride her tricylce. She kept saying "Pedal. Pedal." And then Kate Placed Leah's foot on the pedal of the bike. It is so fun to watch them together! They are the best of friends!

Leah loves to be naked!

Ok, so at least five times I have gone in to check on Leah and put a blanket on her and she is totally naked in her crib with her little bottom sticking up, or she is jumping up and down. What a funny girl. Still don't know why she does this. She did it again tonight, and I said, "You.. (and she finished it for me)... stinker!" She is hilarious! I love that she is always making our family laugh. Love her!

Kates loves her boots!

Kate loves her new boots! I don't know why, they are not that special. Sometimes they are the only things she wants to wear. Those and her turtle shirt.

Happy 2nd B-day

The girls had a very busy B-day at the zoo. They love the animals. Many children do not play with their stuffed animals. Not the case with my girls. They play with animals all of the time. Leah asks me on a daily basis to go to the zoo or Farm Country to see the animals. So needless to say the Zoo was a big hit. They also had their there very own princess cakes. I had so much fun making thier cakes last year, I decided to do it again. We had a lot of cake left over since we did not do a party this year. Since we had left over cake, when I asked the girls what they wanted for breakfast the response was always, " Birthday cake!", which I only gave into once. :)

3 Times a Finisher!

I have trained for the St. George marathon on three seperate occasions. I won't go into detials about it, but I was not able to run in it for the first two trainings. I finally did 1 week ago. I loved it! Honestly, I did! I really thought I wouldn't like it too much. I promised myself that this was the only marathon that I was going to run ever!!! Everyone told me that once you run a marathon, you are hooked. It is true. I don't know when I will do one again, but I will definitely run st. George again sometime. I was pleased as punch with my time. I wanted to do it under four hours and I made it in 3:52 and felt pretty good. I didn't get one blister or lose one toe nail which if you have run St. George it is a real accomplishment. :) I definitely get runners' high. It is the best drug I know of. :)

Lake Powell with kids

A typical trip to Lake Powell for me used to be skiing and wake boarding early in the morning on glassy water. Blasting our favorite music. Taking the boat up canyons and hiking. Relaxing and laying out on the top of the houseboat with ice cold water. Eating delicious barbecue chicken and watching the sun go down. Skinny dipping. Cliff Jumping. Flying in the air on the tube. Kayaking down a narrow canyon. And again... a lot of skiing and wake boarding. Now I'm not complaining, but this trip was definitely different.

It went like this. Wake up and fix breakfast. Sneak off the houseboat while grandma tends the kids to catch a few ski and wake board runs. Get the kids in their swimsuits. Apply sunscreen. Watch them play in the sand and water. Take them for a short boat ride. Put them down for a nap. Swim off the back of the boat and watch the kids jump in. Feed the kids dinner. Sneak away again to ski and wake board. Lay by their crib till they fall asleep so they don't jump out of it. Fall asleep on the top. Wake up 3 times each night to play with the girls in the middle of the night. (They had so much excitement!)

Ok, so I exaggerated a little! The trip really was amazing! I was thrilled to have my sister and her son Sean on the trip with us. My parents helped so much with Kate, Leah, and Sean. Watching the kids get so excited and having a blast at Powell made up for the things that I used to do. I loved watching them get so excited about the water, playing on the tube, burying their feet in the sand, watching their faces light up when they opened the treasure chest we buried, jumping of the back of the boat, chilling on the boat ride to dangling rope, feeding their ice cream to the hungry carp, throwing rocks, playing with water toys, and loving every minute outside. They couldn't wait to get in the water again! The trip was different, but it had bonus features with the kids. We had a blast and it was great to see Kate and Leah love Lake Powell too! I got to do most of the same things, and I loved being there with my girls!

Running with friends- Becky and Tasha

Right before the race began.

Race for the Cure 2009

Love this race! I couldn't believe the 18 thousand people (most of them dressed in pink) running down the road. Many people had names of people that they were running for on their backs. I didn't have my grandmas name on my back, but I was definitely running for her. She is a survivor of breast cancer. The energy and adrenaline was amazing. I will definitely run this race again!

Kate is hiding from the paparazzi.

Hippity Hopped Out!

Our Easter began with Kate and Leah going to nursery for the first time. Yeah! Dave and I were completely shocked though. For those of you who know Kate is not as likely to come to you, and she usually stays really close to mommy. Her exception is nursery. She loved it! She didn't even notice when we left even though we said bye twice. Leah on the other hand really enjoyed nursery, but didn't want to be left without her parents. About 5 minutes after Dave and I left, she was brought in to us crying so hard that she was gasping. We were in utter shock! Leah is our little brave explorer. She loves to go off and see new things. After the second attempt to leave, that ended with sobbing, we resolved that today was not our day. We would be attending nursery for the full 2 hours.
After church, Kate and Leah got to see what the Easter bunny had left for them. WOW! They were excited! They didn't understand why they were looking for eggs or why they were receiving so much candy, but they loved every minute! They ran around the yard pointing at the eggs. They chased bubbles! They gave loves to their new stuffed bunnies! They ate candy until they were sick! After all of the hip-pity hopping the girls collapsed and had a peaceful nights sleep, while visions of candy filled eggs danced in their heads. :}

Three times a charm?

I flooded the laundry room for the third time! I couldn't believe it, but I did it again. That is sounding too much like a Britany Spears song. The whole laundry room plus the entry from the garage had about an inch and a half of water. On the one hand we think that we might have some water damage in drywall, when it leaked into the basement. On the other hand Kate and Leah had a great time playing in it. It was like a small wading pool for them to splash around in. I laughed my head off! What else can I do. Dave said that we need to get rid of that sink. What can I say.... I was just soaking a shirt to get the stain out. I didn't have time to wait for the sink to fill up. The chicken was going to burn. Oh well! Hopefully we will not have any more floods. We'll see if three times is a charm.

Yesterday I had my blood drawn for health insurance. When I got l Leah up from her nap she got the saddest look on her face and started crying. She pointed to the gauze tapped on my arm. She was worried and afraid that I was hurt. She stopped crying after I took the gauze off, showed her my arm, and told her that mommy was ok. I can't believe how sensitive she is and how much she understands.

Kate jumped into the tub with her clothes on while I was filling it. It was funny to see her sitting in the tub fully dressed playing with her toys! I would have gotten a pic, but my battery was gone.

Ok, so I missed something. Before I want to Tucson I stayed in St. George for three days and ran the Spectrum 10 k with Linds. I sat next to a girl on the bus that was six months pregnant and ran the 10 K in 39 minutes. I think that is crazy! We took the kids to see my Grandpa's horses. They loved it. They got to see chickens, dogs, a mule, and many horses. The highlight was actually riding the horse. My mom sat on the horse and held them, while my grandpa led his oldest horse, and my favorite, Lindy, around the corral. They each had about 15 turns,seriously. Kate got the biggest kick out of feeding the horses. I have know idea why. Maybe the way they hold their mouths. Check out the video.

After spending several hours at the ranch, they went back to grammy's for ice cream. For some reason Kate and Leah think ice cream tastes better in a cone. They even enjoyed a game of "get you" with ice ream in their hands. A scary proposition I know, but it worked. They had a blast!

Under the Tucson Sun

I just returned from a much needed vacation. I went to Tucson with my family. We stayed in a sweet resort! The bad thing is that Dave couldn't come. That darn work always gets in the way. :) When you are planning a vacation with little kids there are so many things to think about. Cribs, high chairs, car seats just to name a few, You all probably know the drill already. I just kept thinking of more things that I needed to worry about. Luckily my mom did most of the arranging. We left on St. Pa tricks Day. The flight was only an hour, but I was worried about how the girls would handle it. I had heard a few horror stories from my sister who has become a frequent flier since moving to the frozen tundra that is Wisconsin. But fortunately, they were champs! Kate slept the whole time on my mom's lap, and Leah played and ate snacks with me. There was not even any fussing. I wish they were that good in church. (haha) As soon as we arrived at the hotel the relaxing began for me. The weather was perfect, 80 to 90 degrees. A cool dip in the pool was just what I needed. Linds and I enjoyed lounging by the pool while the kiddos slept. The resort had a mini water park, with a splash pool, waterfall and slide. We had a little back yard where bunnies and Quail came right up to the back door. The girls squealed with delight every time we saw another bunny. They learned that word fast! We went to the Sonoran Desert Museum, which is like a Zoo, but 10 times better. The animals are in their natural environment. The whole park was out in the Sonoran Desert. The trail was awesome. We also went hiking, shopping, celebrated my mom's B-day at an amazing restaurant, went to another zoo, and just enjoyed ourselves. Kate and Leah loved hanging out with their cousin Sean who is 6 months younger than them. After we got back, Grandma or gaga, as Kate and Leah call her, asked them where Sean was. They went through the whole house calling his name and looking for him. It was adorable. I miss my sister soooo much. I don't see her nearly enough. I am grateful for the great memories and the fabulous time I had under the Tucson Sun. My parents made it all possible.

Halloween

The girls were little fairies for Halloween. I found the cutest little tutu's and decided to find wings to go with them. I also made their hair bows and bought them little wands. They loved trick-or-treating! Who wouldn't! After the first 4 houses Leah got the hang of it and tried knocking on the doors herself. Her little hand didn't make a very loud knock, but it was fun to see her excited! We went to about 10 houses, and that was enough this time.

On October 16th My sister flew into town from Milwaukee, only I didn't know it. It was a surprise. I expected my mom and dad, but not Lindsay and Sean. I was feeding the girls dinner when I heard a knock at the door. I went to the door thinking it was my parents. To my surprise Sean was sitting in his stroller all by himself on my front porch. I yelled, "No way!" and scared Sean half to death, as I was picking him up. Linds came around the corner. It was one of the greatest surprises of my life!

We had a great time while my family was visiting. We went to Sundance and had a picnic, to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens several times to enjoy the georgeous weather, running without our strollers, and went shopping a couple of times.

The "Secret Garden" is Kate and Leah's favorite. They especially love the fountain. They wanted to put thier hands in it non stop. They got sprayed a few times. Kate closed her eyes and stuck out her tongue a lot. They love water!

Sean looks like a little boy now and not a baby. His favorite thing to do right now is walk using your hands to help him. Does this sound familiar. Linds said, " You guys didn't warn me about walking him around." It is such a back breaker and she probably has about 2 more months of it, till he walks on his own.


Kate and Leah had a great time with their cousin Sean. He is only five months younger, which isn't much especially when they are older. They really played well together! Leah made Sean laugh a couple of times just from random things that she did. He loved to watch her climb up the stairs! He thought that was hilarious!

When my mom came up she got the best greeting ever. Kate and Leah heard the door open, saw her, ran to her squealing with delight, and gave her a big hugs!