Pictures from camping

Here are some pictures from our family camping trip.

Abigail on the first day up there. (still clean)
Brooklyn happy to be camping.

Sarah and Brooklyn. I was suprised that Brooklyn went to her

Abigail drinking a juice slowly getting dirty.

Friday Morning sunrise. The time 5:22 am.

Brooklyn waiting for her breakfast.

Abigail already dirty before breakfast.

6 pounds of bacon.

Abigail swimming. She hated the water.

Brooklyn swimming she would not go in the water.

Abigail drinking her juice. She took the straw out and bit off the top.

Abigail being clingy to Mike. And Matt Mike's oldest brother.

Abigail with war paint on. She loved playing in the dirt.

Brooklyn with her favorite person.

Abigail and Brooklyn the 2nd morning. They are both happy they slept longer.

Brooklyn enjoying her juice

Abigail is stil clean first thing in the morning.

Brooklyn waiting for Breakfast.

Family campout

This past week we had a family camp out with Mike's side of the family. There were good parts and bad parts. But the good outweighed the bad.

It all started Thursday, Mike and I woke up that morning and packed our car. We realized that you need a lot to go camping with a family of four and will not know what to do when we have our next kid. We got up to blackhawk about 2 in the afternoon. Mike and I walked around to find the best tent spot for our family. The one that would be easiest for Abigail to walk to. Then we set up our tent. Well Mike did most of it. I helped when the girls let me. We just let the kids play in the dirt.

About an hour later other people started to show up. It was fun to see everyone. Especially Mike's brother Matt and his family. It has been about 3 and a half years since we last saw them. Our first problem came when one of my nieces needed to go to the bathroom. We then discovered that the bathrooms were locked. We had no idea why. So we had someone go talk to them and they said that they were going to open them. But when my sister-in-law Sarah and I went down to use them only the Men's room was open. So yes we went in there. I would rather go into a stinky men's room the squat in the bushes. But that is just me.

For dinner that night we had chicken, rice and corn. When I am pregnant I hate chicken, so I didn't eat any. I hate it, because everyone said it was so good. Mike helped make it because the person in charge of making had to go home because his wife got sick. After dinner was done and cleaned up we had scripture study as a family and then family prayer. Mike and I then put our girls to bed. Which Brooklyn cried and then eventually fell asleep. That night we played games and ate starburst. When it was time to get ready for bed, we went down to the bathroom and it was locked again. How annoying is that, both bathrooms were. So we had to figure something out. Luckily my father in law brought a bucket. So we called it our pee bucket and Mike and I brought t.p.

When we went in our tent that night Brooklyn woke up and started to scream, so we thought that we would just put her in one of our beds. So I put her in with me, but she kept screaming no matter what I did. So we put her in bed and she screamed. So finally I though maybe she is hungry so I took her out to our car and got her crackers. But she just kept screaming and wouldn't eat. So I went back to the tent and gave her to Mike. And she calmed right down. But she was wide awake and kept hitting Mike and scratching his face. He finally put her back in her crib and she stayed quiet. But me being the mom I am couldn't fall asleep until she was asleep, because I wanted to make sure she had her blankets on. I was probably awake for another hour waiting for her to be asleep enough that I could do it.

I was woken up early the next morning, by one of my brother in laws started a fire. He had some light on and was making a lot of noise. I think a lot of people got up early that morning. Mike and I got up and took our girls out, since it was still before 6 in the morning and breakfast wasn't until 8 or 9, we pulled out some of the doughnuts that we had. We were nice and shared them with anyone who wanted one. They finally decided to make breakfast. The bad part was nothing looked good to me, being pregnant makes food look gross. So I really didn't eat. Also one of my nephews was throwing up right before breakfast. He threw up about 5 times and then was done and was playing again.

That morning they brought some porta potties, which was nice. I think every kid came up and told us about them. I was happy that I no longer had to use a bucket, just because that was not fun, but better than squatting. The day quickly got hot so we decided to go swimming. But first we had to wait for everyone who had to get ready and then we were trying to put up tarps for sun protection. Finally we got to the lake. We took our girls in and they screamed and didn't like it. Mike stayed in the water and I sat on the shore with our girls. I was so hot. So I tried to get in again and they hated it again. So finally we decided to just go back to camp.

We just sat there and talked to Mike's brother and his wife that didn't go swimming. Everyone came back a little while later and we tried to all stay in the shade. Which was getting harder because there wasn't much of it. That night it was Mike's turn to make dinner. It:was really good. He then had help cleaning it up. We had scripture study again. Then about 8:30 we put our girls to bed.

That night we had smores and cobbler for dessert. Some people played games but I just wanted to sit there and relax. I don't know what time I went to bed but it was after midnight at least. Luckily Brooklyn stayed asleep that night. But I was woken up by another one of my nephews throwing up. And then by one of Mike's brother leaving in the middle of the night with his sick wife and then Mike's sister left sick first thing in the morning. So I still didn't get much sleep.

We got up early the next morning. Mike started a fire and we just sat around eating cracker and drinking juice. Slowly other people got up. People slept in a lot more on the 2nd day. Mike's parents came up later that morning with cereal for breakfast. We ate then we packed up to go home. We had Mike's mom hold Brooklyn. Brooklyn hates being held, by anyone but Mike and I she is very shy. But she finally calmed down and was fine. She even fell asleep in grandma's arms. It got hot really fast so I helped Mike as much as I could.

By the time that everyone was packed and ready to go the kids wanted to go home so we just went. The ride home was fast and luckily my ears popped right so I didn't feel yucky. When we got home I fed the girls and put things away as Mike unloaded the car. We all took a nap that afternoon and was really tired.

Overall it was a good camp out.

Abigail's birthday

I am a little behind with this post, since Abigail's birthday was July 9th.
For Abigail's birthday we were kind of low key. Mike took the day off, so we could spend it together. The night before I went and got her present and balloons and streamers. We decorated the apartment so she would wake up to it. Which she loved. She kept telling us that they were her balloons.

After breakfast we went to the park. It was fun but hot already, all she wanted to do is swing. She would of stayed there all day if we would of let her. But we finally said if we left we would go get ice cream. So we went to walmart to buy some.

We came home and had lunch and then I took Abigail swimming. It was free swim day thankfully, because we were there for 5 minutes when Abigail got done. I was happy that I didn't spend the money to go swimming. We came home and Abigail napped which was nice.

We didn't have a birthday dinner because Abigail is a picky eater and only likes hot dogs or sandwiches. We did have a cake for her though and she loved blowing out the candles this year.

Overall it was a nice day.

She can go downstairs

Brooklyn has been able to crawl up the stairs for awhile. Every once in awhile she would go down the stairs outside. But today she went down the stairs in the apartment. I thought she was back in the game room with Mike. But she was being really quiet so I asked him if she was back there. He said yeah somewhere. So I decide to see what she is doing. I look down the stairs and she is at the bottom of them smiling really big. She then came up the stairs really fast.

I think that it is great that she can go down the stairs. Now if she would just learn how to walk that would be great.

The case of the missing balloon

I bought some balloons for Mike and Brooklyn's birthday. They must make better balloons lately because they stayed up forever. Anyway Sunday night the when the air conditioner would come on it would push the balloon down to the floor. Which Abigail was loving. Then it would go back up the the ceiling. Sunday night when we went to bed it was on the ceiling.

Monday morning we woke up and Abigail said she wanted to see the balloon fall down from the ceiling. I looked for the balloon and it was gone. We looked all over and we couldn't find it anywhere. Still I have no clue where it is. We don't know if it popped and Abigail threw it away or what. I guess we will never know.

Birthdays, and dentist

Last week was Mike's and Brooklyn's birthday. On Mike's birthday I had a primary activity to go to that morning. So he was lucky enough to be home with the two kids. For the primary activity we went up to the church museum in Salt Lake. It was really fun. I would love to go again someday and take my kids.

When I got home Mike went to lunch with his brother's that could. While I stayed home with the kids. I put them down for naps and napped myself. When he came home we went to the store to try to find Brooklyn a birthday present. Nothing looked good, but then we found a little tunnel thing. Which we bought and both of the kids loved it. We had a late dinner that night.

Brooklyn's birthday was the next day. She seemed like she was in a really good mood the whole day. My parents came that night and gave her a gift. A toy we already had. But they had set it up so there was no taking it back. Oh well she likes it.

We had a birthday party for them on Saturday with Mike's family. We had cake and fruit. Because his family is doing the whole diet thing. We played the wii and just hung out. Mike and I were going to go on a date that night, but it didn't work out. We sold some things on ksl and we were waiting for someone to come and get something and they were later than they said they would be. Oh well we still had a good night.

This morning I took the girls to the dentist. I went thinking that Abigail was going to scream the whole time. But she was really good and just let them brush her teeth and look at them. She even sat still for the x-rays. Brooklyn on the other hand screamed, when the dentist was looking at her. But over all was good.

Abigail's new bike

Brooklyn on the bike

Abigail

she is ready to get off

A couple of weeks ago we bought Abigail a two wheeler bike. I found one on ksl for $10. So I said I wanted it. Set a time to go up to Salt Lake to get it, and was really excited. The day we were supposed to pick it up, Mike and I went and got cash, and drove up. We found the house and knocked on the door there was no answer. I tried a couple of times and no one was there. So we finally just left.

On the way home we were talking about it, and we remembered that Mike's parents said that they could help us buy a bike for her. So we Mike called his mom and told him what happened and she said she could help us out. So a couple of days we went to walmart to get the bike.

Abigail is still unsure about the whole bike thing we can get her on it, but she still will not pedal. We just keep trying to teach her.

apartment upgrades

We have been busy here, getting improvements on our apartment. Our landlord decided instead of fixing the swamp cooler that he would get central air in our apartment. We are lucky to have the up stairs apartment, because the downstairs didn't get it.

Abigail didn't like the people that were putting it in. It took half a day and she cried the whole time that they were here. Mike and I were really frustrated, because nothing would make her happy. We even tried to lock her in the spare room to watch a movie. She finally came out right before they left and she told them to go home. The first day that we had it I had it on the whole day. But it was still really hot. My landlord came that night to fix something. He said he didn't think it was working so he had them come and fix it.

The next week, we had new windows put in our apartment. We were prepared for the worst with Abigail. But she actually liked the guys that came in she kept playing with them. The new windows look really nice and are easy to open and close. Another plus is the fact that they actually lock. Our last ones didn't.

I really like our landlord now. He bought the place a year ago and has been making updates ever since. He is also really fast to come fix things when you tell him that they are broken.

Picnic in the rain

Last weekend was really nice. Mike and I took the girls on a ride, and we ended up at Utah lake. There was a walking trail so we went on it. We thought it would be a good place for a picnic. So we set it up with Mike's family to have a picnic the next weekend.

This weekend came and it was rainy and cold, so we decided to just go to someones house. The bad thing was half of us were in bad moods a few people were sick. At least the kids were happy. After Mike's parents got there they asked if we were going to go to the park or stay there. Somehow it got decided that we would go to rock canyon park. It wasn't raining at the time and they said it wasn't that cold. I was glad because I had a light jacket on and flip flops. Brooklyn had a light jacket on.

By time we got up there it was starting to rain was a little windy. I got a blanket out of our car and wrapped Brooklyn up and held her. Mike took Abigail to the playground. Abigail started walking from the play ground to us. And every time she went back and forth she would jump in the puddles of water. It then started to rain. Abigail absolutely loved it. She was trying to catch the rain in her mouth. She was soaking wet by time we got her to come to us. My mother in law wrapped her up in a blanket.

Needless to say we ate and then left the park. I was cold the rest of the night. I hope next time we decide to have a picnic that it will be warmer.

Life has been going well. I have made my weight loss goal for the month. I had it last week, but then I got lazy and gained a little back. But I got back on track. Mike has got his goal too. So it is good. We have been doing well on eating better. I try to work out everyday but someday it doesn't happen. But I am still working on it.

Brooklyn is officially weaned. Last Saturday we cut her to nursing once a day and then the other day I gave her a sippy cup instead of nursing. This was after one morning she woke up and had a very dry diaper. So I knew she wasn't getting anything from me. It has been two days now and she is doing well. She loves her sippy cup now. It is so nice because I can now leave and not worry about getting home by a certain time to feed her.

We got Abigail a new bike the other day. It is a 12 inch bike with training wheels. We have not taken her outside yet. It has been to cold. But we will soon. We still need to teach her how to use the pedals. She likes to sit on it, but then she wants to be pushed around the house. Brooklyn even loves the bike.

Mike is done with school now. So he will be here in the mornings. It will be nice to spend more time with him. I can also get out in the mornings if I want to. He has two and a half years left in school.