Halloween

Halloween, is Halloween.  Who doesn't love getting dressed up and getting candy for free.  I think that Halloween is every kids favorite holiday.  This year, Camden and Maysie picked out their own costumes.  Camden chose to be a monkey.  He was fascinated with the banana in the pocket.  :)  I guess this picture fits him because he is a little monkey.

 

 

Maysie chose to be an owl.  This picture turned out super cute.  I love the flower by the ear.  For some reason Maysie is totally into owls this year.  It all started with her backpack for school...

 

This year we were able to get quite a few pumpkins for free from Rob's half brother.  They planted a bunch last year and for some reason, alot of pumpkins grew in this year.  Since our kids are alittle small to really help carve them, we brought up our craft paint from down stairs and let the kids go at it on their pumpkins, then I painted a simple picture on top of it.  Here is a sample of what they looked like.  They turned out really cute, and the kids had a blast making a mess in the paint.   :)

 

 

 

Year of Firsts

Maysie is quite the busy girl these days.  In April she started taking piano lessons from my super talented niece.  She is doing pretty good, but I have to keep reminding myself that she is only 4 and also that I can't expect her to play like pro at this age.  Sometimes I think she is too small but my niece reassures me that this is a good age to start them.  So I'll grit my teeth and suffer though some of these practices while she is slowly learning how to read the notes.

 

This is her on her 1st day of piano lessons.

 

 

Also this year, Maysie started taking dance lessons.  Dancing toddlers is probably one of the cutest and funniest things one can probably ever experience in a life time.  The first couple of weeks was hard on her but I think she was just over whelmed with all this new stuff being thrown at her all at once.  She loves dance, and is quickly picking up all the new technique she is learning each week.  Unfortunately I don't have a picture of her going to dance but be assured, when they have their recitals, I'll flood you with pictures.  They are doing their recital piece to "Walking on Sunshine"  so you know it will be adorable when it comes time.  I have watched periodically through class and she seems to be doing awesome and loving it.

 

This year we also decided to put Maysie into a nearby Preschool 4 days a week.  She is gone for 3 hours at a time so it feels alot like she is in kindergarten.  Maysie loves Loves LOVES school and her sweet teacher Miss Jani.   She is excelling and is even learning how to read now.  I can't believe how full her backpack is most days with all the fun stuff that they get to do at school.  With Maysie being is school for so long, Camden had a really hard adjusting to life with out his sister to always play with.  The first couple of weeks, he cried every time we had to drop her off at school.  I didn't realize how much of an adjustment this would be on him.  I was looking forward to the one on one time I could spend with my little guy, but he didn't want it for a while.  Now he loves having time with just mom and is becoming quite the little helper with mom's chores.  Before I know it, he will be in school too.  What will I do with no kids at home?

 

On the 1st day of School!

 

Our life is quickly evolving to running the kids around to their various activities, and it really keeps me on my toes.  On the positive note...  I am becoming more organized and my calender actually looks like I have a life.  :)

 

 

New Car

At the beginning of the year, we decided that it was time to think about getting a new car.  I had finally convinced Rob that our family was out growing our little Altima.  I had my heart set on a Toyota Sienna and Rob wanted a Honda Oddessy.  We started researching our options, and then in March, we were ready to start test driving.  We went to the Honda dealer first, (probably because Rob was driving us there)  and we test drove the Oddessy.  Then we went to a Toyota dealership and drove the Sienna.  I was shocked at the difference!  Needless to say, I like the Honda way better once I drove it.  They didn't have the type of van we wanted in stock but they had on on order that would be delivered in April so we put the deposit down on that vehicle.

 

Now I am proud to say that we are the new owners of a Honda Oddessy Touring, and I love it!

Room for 8 people and big storage in the back.  What's not to love.  As my darling Grandma said, "It has about everything but the kitchen sink."

 

 

Maysie's 4th Birthday

Maysie turned 4 in June.  Yeah, I know, I can't believe 4 years has gone by that fast!  Since her birthday was in the middle of week, we gave her the option of celebrating with just Mom, Dad and Camden on the day of her birthday or waiting until the weekend to have the family come over and party with us.  She chose the latter option and didn't complain once on her birthday about not opening any presents.  So since we weren't celebrating her birthday on the day, we decided to take our family out and have a small celebration in her honor.  We went bowling and then took her where ever she wanted to eat.  Bowling is something I used to do in my single days and even as Rob and I was dating, but since I have gotten married, I can't get Rob to go.  Now I know why...  Just look at the score board.  :)

 

 

LOL.  Actually, this was the best I have ever bowled and poor Rob, yeah, I just won't talk about it.  The kids absolutely loved it and have been dying to go back.  Rob I think could wait it out another 40 years or so.  For dinner Maysie chose Chuck-A-Rama, (Yep you can tell she's a Stowell) and she was highly embarrassed when the employee's sang Happy Birthday to her. 

 

When Friday night came, we had everyone come for cake and ice cream.  Maysie chose a My Little Pony cake this year and her request was that it had to have certain ponies on it.  Luckily Maysie gives me tons of notice (like she picked this out in January) and I could find the right ponies.  This wasn't my favorite, but she loved it and that is all that matters.  Right? 

 

For her birthday, she asked for lots of dress up clothes.  And ta da, that is what she got.

 

She was ecstatic and plays dress up all the time so I guess it was a good thing.  She had so much fun and is already planning her next birthday...  I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing yet.  :)

Easter Pics

Easter weekend was such a busy time for us.  We dyed eggs like normal and this year Rob's sister's family joined us for the occasion.   We had our Easter dinner with Rob's family at our house on Saturday instead of Sunday, for reasons I still don't know why.  After dinner, I went with Bec and Johanna to find Easter dresses for Bec's girls.  That was a nightmare.  It reminded me alot of Black Friday Shopping.  I had no idea that Easter could be like that.  Needless to say, I was grateful that I had my family take care of.  Saturday morning, we met Rob's family over in West

 Bountiful for their city's annual Easter Egg hunt.  It was crazy - insane while it was going on but the kids sure had fun.  Camden wasn't quite sure what was going on but he figured it out before all the eggs were gone. 

 

 Maysie just loved the whole thing.  She dove right in and found almost a grocery sack full of eggs. 

Sunday morning, I took the kids to church while Rob slept.  Sometimes this night shift stuff is for the birds... but when we got home there was dinner on the table so I guess I can put up with it if I have too.  :)  After dinner, we took the kids outside to get some cute pictures in their Easter outfits.  This year I made Maysie's dress in a sewing class that I took at the beginning of the year from my neighbor.  I let Maysie pick out all the material and she absolutely loves the end result.  I don't think I did too bad for my first attempt of sewing from an actual pattern.  Camden is sporting his new tie.  Together they look absolutely adorable in their Easter attire, if I do say so myself.  (Maysie wasn't too happy about having to sit by Camden in this picture.  That is why she has such a sour face.  - Why is it impossible to get a decent picture of both my kids together?) 

 

After our Easter photo shoot, we let the kids go inside and find all the eggs.  Then we spent the rest of the afternoon hiding and finding the eggs until it got to be a bit annoying for both mom and dad.  Then unfortunately, Rob had to go to work and me and the kids enjoyed a quite night at home watching the movie the Easter bunny brought us this year in our family basket, "Letters To God".  This is such a good movie and I quickly discovered, I needed a box of tissues next to me as I watched it.  The kids on the other hand grew board since it wasn't a cartoon, but they occupied themselves with the Easter eggs again.  :)

 

I can't help but think as I am posting this, that I am so grateful for the real meaning of Easter in my personal life.  I am so thankful for Jesus Christ and the life he led.  I am grateful for His sacrifice so that I can enjoy the blessings of Eternal Life.  I am thankful for the atonement and the opportunity that I am able to be forgiven of my sins.  I am far from perfect but this gives me great comfort knowing that I can turn to my Heavenly Father for help and forgiveness and be able to be as clean as the day that I made my baptismal covenants!  What a blessing.

Happy Birthday Camden

Ok, so Camden's 2nd birthday was in March....  But since my computer has been practically non - existent since the beginning of the year, I'll just do a shout out to him now. :) 

 

As you can tell, I get really into birthdays.  I let the kids pick out the theme for their cake and I'll research the topic and get my creative juices flowing and some how end up with something like this.

 

 

As you can tell he chose Mickey Mouse for the theme of his birthday.  Lucky for me, there are a ton of little Mickey Mouse toys I could buy to make his cake extra cute and super easy to make, and it is a plus cuz he can play with the toys afterwords.  Were missing Donald Duck, but I couldn't find him at the stores I went to, so we just did with out.

 

 

 

For his birthday, we had a small family get together to celebrate.  I love this age because they are just big enough to know whats going on but just small enough to not want a catalog full of gifts.  :)  This year the birthday boy got alot of fun things, the high light was a wagon of blocks and a remote control car. 

 

The day after his birthday, we went and bought him a bike since he was always trying to climb on Maysie's.  We were surprised that he could just barely reach the pedals so maybe he was big enough for one.  We figured that by the end of summer, he might be able to ride it and then they wont fight over it.  (Of course, since he had struggled to get the coordination to turn the pedals, he lost interest but found a love for riding the scooter around all summer!  That kid is way more coordinated at riding the scooter than Maysie was at that age.)  As you can tell, it was a family affair to put the bike together.  So maybe next year, Camden will like his bike better, but for now, we will just go with the flow.

 

 

Vacation!

Wow, so much has happened since I was last able to blog...  I now finally have not 1 but 2 computers that are fully functioning which will make it possible for me to update those that are still willing to follow us even though it has been almost a year since I was able to last post.  (Has it really been that long since my computer has really worked?   WOW!)  Well,   Instead of going back for months and months of missed entries, I'll spend the next few posts highlighting what my cute little family has been up to the last year.

 

In the middle of May, we took a family vacation to California with a few of Rob's siblings and their family and also my awesome MIL.  We drove to Vegas, stayed the night, and then went to San Diego so we could go to Sea World.  The kids love all the "dolphins"  (That is what they called anything that was big that swam in the water).  Their favorite part was the Sesame Street village and watching the dolphins up close.  We learned fast that they DO NOT like 3-D movies, Maysie especially, since she tried to run out in the middle of the one at Sea World the first time the chair moved.  :)  After that, with all her crying, Camden didn't like them either.  Me and Rob's favorite part of Sea World was the Sea Lion show...   I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!  I also loved our souvenirs - character drawings of each member of our family.  It is so weird seeing yourself as a cartoon but it is so amazing how accurately we all look. 

 

Here is a picture of us standing in front of a great white shark teeth display along with Rob's mom.  Surprisingly enough, this is the only family picture that we took of us at Sea World.  Bummer!  What were we thinking!  Luckily we got some cool pictures but I'll spare you all of them because you'll be board after the 2nd or 3rd one!  :)

 

 

After spending a few nights in San Diego, we went to Anaheim to visit Disneyland.  While on our way north, we spent the afternoon at San Clemente State Beach so we could enjoy the ocean, and soaking up the sun on the beach.  The kids quickly made friends with the kids that pulled up sand next to us since they had all the shovel and bucket toys.  :)  Everyone had fun playing in the water, looking for those little crab things that hide in the sand, burring each other in the sand, and just enjoying the sun.  I had to admit, the sand on the beach did an awesome job exfoliating my feet!  It was so relaxing and refreshing. 

 

We spent the next 3 days at the "Happiest Place on Earth" from sun up, to way after the sun went down.  This was the first trip to Disneyland for almost all of Rob's family that went.  They were amazed at what all you can do there.  We were able to see quite a few of the characters.  Here is us with - the "Real" Mickey Mouse!

 

Our favorites were: 

Rides for the kids:  the Spinning Cups, aka the Tea Cups, Dumbo, Toy Story Midway Mania, and driving the cars in Autotopia.

Rides for the adults:  Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones, California Screamin', and Soarin' Over California.

 

We discovered Camden has a secret crush on Tinkerbell, and Maysie wanted everything "Tangled" by the time we left (Thanks to her Tangled obsessed cousins).  We were able to do ToonTowns Morning Madness the first day.  We got there alittle late so our seats were not that great but the kids loved seeing all their favorite Disney characters as soon as the town hall meeting was over.  Well all except Minnie Mouse and Daisy - to Maysie's sorrow - who were busy making a Birthday Cake for Donald Duck.  We then went and visited all the princess and Maysie was ecstatic that Cinderella was there since that is her all time favorite. 

The second day, we spent it at California Adventure.  We got there right when the gates opened and was able to walk right up to alot of the most popular rides.  We watched the Aladdin Musical which was fantastic and loved every second of it.  Bugs Land was a favorite area for our kids since this is where they could ride most of the rides.  We watched "It's Tough To Be A Bug" which was intense for even the adults and we were sure that we would be woken up many of night by our children having nightmares of 3-D movies.  (I'm pretty convinced that Maysie may possibly never watch another one in her lifetime.)  That night we watched the World of Color show which was far better than I would have ever guessed.  We loved this!  I'm a little sad that Cars Land wasn't opened yet because I know Camden would have been over the moon if it was but we still had ton's of fun.  On our way back to our hotel, we stopped at this buffet for dinner.  While eating, I discovered something strange looking in my rice.  When looking closer at it, I thought that it looked like baby octopus.  Um gross.  When I asked the waiter if that was what it was then my sister in law said that she had that rice too, and ate something that was really chewy but she didn't know what it was and it grossed her out so she wouldn't finish eating it.  Needless to say, when she discovered what she actually ate we all had a good laugh but vowed we would never go back there to eat again.

 

The last day was back at Disneyland.  We decided by then we knew what was cool and what was not, so we didn't have to waste any time.  We did however spend 90 minutes waiting in line just to see Repunzel, totally overrated if you ask me, but all the girls were so excited that it made it worth it in the end. Rob made a record and went on Splash Mountain like 6 times that day thanks to the fast pass.  He loved that ride and for some reason hardly ever came out wet, unlike the 2 times I went on it....   :) 

 

The next morning we left and went back to Vegas for the night.  It was so nice to break up our trip that way.  The kids did awesome on the ride.  I was alittle bit worried about the trip but I was prepared with lots of activities for them to do in the car and of course the DVD player saved the day as long as the kids could comprise on a movie.  If you asked Camden, you could only watch Cars and Maysie would very from a Strawberry Shortcake to Living Scriptures with alittle bit of Princess and the Frog or Tangled thrown in the middle.  :)  When we got to our hotel, we took the kids swimming and met some really interesting people.  One lady in particular made us get a good laugh since she was in somewhat of another hemisphere than us.  The kids loved the water and would jump in as soon as they had there arm floaties on.  I think they might be part fish. 

 

On our way back home we took the scenic route once we got to St George.  We went to the Mountain Meadows Massacre site which was really interesting since I have never been there before, then we drove through Enterprise to Cedar City.  We then stopped at Cove Fort for another tour since we were passing through too, because Rob's mom hasn't really ever been there.  Once we got back in the car, I think that the kids were exhausted from our busy eventful week that they slept like angels all the way home.  

 

This was a much needed vacation for our family and we had so much fun.  Many memories were made and we had a fantastic experience to get to know and spend time with those that came from Rob's family.