The Carpenter Family

Back In The Game

2010-02-10T17:36:00.000-08:00

So, after an entire year we are back!!! I know all of our readers (ahem...mom I'm talking to you here) are going to be so excited! But before you get too excited I have a confession...I'm obsessed with dates when it comes to journaling. Or at least having things in the right order in which they happened. So, I am going to be doing some major catch up. We're talking like 18 or so months. I hope you can stick with me through this.....Holy Moley this is a large commitment! So, get ready for lot's of posts! Before we begin does anybody know (help me mom?!?!?!) how to change the date on your posts so they seem to be posted when they happened??? Does that even make sense? In order to satisfy your craving for Carpfam pictures I present to you our girls in all of their adorable glory. Thanks to our favorite, most darling photographer and my bestie Ashley Henry. If you like this you should see what else she can do on her photography blog at ashleyhenryphotography.blogspot.com.

Hopefully this will hold you over while I work on like a bajillion million posts, all because I love you...mom.

Spring Break Part Three

2009-07-09T09:02:00.000-07:00

We took the girls to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and we all had a blast! It was a little crowded being Spring Break and all, so we tried to hurry our way through a little bit. The girls had fun putting their hands in the water trying to touch some of the little sea creatures.

Checking out the fishies.

Little Olivia sitting in the clam/oyster thing. I think she was a little scared about the whole thing.

After fighting the crowds in the aquarium we went walking around the little strip nearby. It was really cute. I think our favorite part was the keyboard player. He was seriously rocking out and loving himself through every second of it.

Afterwards we went over to the Dennis the Menace park and let the girls run around for a little bit. It is a darling park. You can tell it had been re-done but they still kept some of the old school things like cement slides, super tall metal slides and jungley gym things.

These poor girls, their mother wants pictures of everything!!!

We drove around Monterey a little bit, and it is a gorgeous place. Someday Matt and I would love to come back and stay for a weekend.

After all of our sight seeing and before the hunger grumps really started to settle in we got some dinner. We took the girls to a lounge/restaurant place called Lalapalooza -I think that's how you spell it. The food was incredible. Maddie and Olivia shared a chicken pasta deliciousness and I could have licked their plate clean! It was really yum!!

Sweet Baby Kate

2009-02-01T09:30:00.000-08:00

Our sweet baby Kate joined our family on Thursday, January 22 at 12:50 p.m. She weighed in at 8lbs 7oz. was 21 inches long and couldn't be more perfect. We have loved every second with her. Maddie and Olivia are thrilled with their new baby sister and smother her with all kinds of love as often as they possibly can! A few precious moments with the girls have included Maddie holding tightly to Kate's and Olivia's hands and saying "best friends today, tomorrow and always." Another gem, when we arrived home from the hospital Maddie was telling me about how great it all was and she said "I was your first baby, and Olivia was next and Kate was last...well not last because we need to have a boy baby too. How about two boy babies, and three girl babies?" I said "we'll see...what if we were just a family of all girls?" Maddie's quick response was "that would be cute!" What a doll. Olivia loves to sing to Kate whenever she can and wakes up every morning runs into our room whispering "I want to give her kisses." Another great Olivia moment was when Kate was sleeping in her little cradle while I was folding laundry and it was too quiet, I quickly came to check on Kate and Olivia had climbed into the cradle and was sitting next to her -just hanging out! Olivia loves that cradle and has already tried to take a nap in it herself! We are loving being home and together with our family and our new baby Kate. We feel so blessed to have this little piece of Heaven in our home.

Spring Break Part Two

2009-01-21T15:44:00.000-08:00

For our first big adventure during the break we went down to the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk. We left the city having checked the forecast and thought that long sleeves would probably keep us comfy but not hot...we were wrong. It was really warm, and we felt kind of silly walking around with all of the tourists in their shorts and short sleeves. We survived the warm weather though and had a lot of fun playing. Once we bought ourselves some tickets to ride, we were on our way.

This was one of the rides the girls could go on all by themselves. I love how as parents we are so "proud" as we watch our kids go around in a circle on these carnival-ish rides! I have to laugh at myself everytime I do this.

Here's Maddie enjoying another ride.

We were waiting in line to go on the boats and little did we know what we had in store for us...a meltdown of major proportions.

Are we having fun yet???

After a few fun filled hours we got some lunch and decided to head home. For our drive back we decided to drive along the coast, and it was so worth it. It was beautiful. There were lots of little places to stop and look out at the ocean, cute little towns, and lighthouses all along the way. We decided to stop and check a few out.

Matt and Maddie checking out the view.

Another great family shot of all of us -haha.

Spring Break Part One

2009-01-21T15:28:00.000-08:00

For Matt's last Spring Break as a student EVER we decided to stay in San Francisco and do a couple of touristy things. To kick off our fun week we went to the Bay Area Discovery Museum. I wish we could still go there all the time, so do Maddie and Olivia. We have so many fun memories of that place. I think this is one of the only times Matt had ever been there so the girls had fun showing him around.

Hard at work with the moon sand, the girls love this stuff. It's really tempting to buy because it keeps them so busy, but then I imagine the clean up...it would be bad.
Olivia being her happy little self playing with the blocks.

Happy Easter

2009-01-21T15:01:00.000-08:00

Happy Easter! We had so much fun putting together this little scavenger hunt for the girls, that led them all around our little apartment and then finally to their Easter baskets. This is Maddie with the first clue.

I love the intensity on her face as Matt is reading to her, it's so cute.

Another clue, and they're on their way.

The last clue...and a view of our scary apartment hallway.

Easter baskets at last!

I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the fact that Maddie loves peeps, most kids do. But, she talks about them all year long. She is such a treat lover, wonder where she got that from...

Little Olivia checking out her basket.

Speaking of treat lovers look at those jelly bean filled cheeks! I love it!

Coloring Easter Eggs

2009-01-21T14:46:00.000-08:00

After our Ward Easter egg hunt we decided to dye some eggs. This was the first time we had ever colored Easter eggs as a family so Matt and I were pretty excited! The girls seemed to enjoy it too. These are just a few pictures from the day. I think Olivia was a little more concerned about what she was holding rather than coloring the egg.Maddie hard at work.

Serious concentration face! We used a kit from Target that had all of the Princesses and glitter and stickers -it was perfect!
Pretty little eggs all in a row.

I love Maddie's excited face in this picture. Once we colored all of the eggs Maddie wanted to wrap them in the little Princess stands, she had to make sure each egg matched the Princess! I love my girl.

Easter Egg Hunt

2009-01-20T18:41:00.000-08:00

Our primary had a pretty fun Easter egg hunt we played games, decorated cupcakes and hunted for eggs. The girls were both in heaven. This is a picture of Maddie and her friend Mckenna, these two are so cute.

I had to take a picture to document Maddie's shoe choice for the day -she couldn't make up her mind between blue or brown flip flops so she went with both! This is a battle sometimes not worth fighting.

This gives me a nice sugary headache just looking at it! This is definately a cupcake a la Maddie.

Maddie and her little friend Ava devouring their cupcakes.

On the hunt for some serious eggs!

Checking out their loot...

I love that chocolatey little face!

Japanese Tea Gardens

2009-01-20T18:02:00.000-08:00

Another thing we had to do before leaving San Francisco was to visit the Japanese Tea Gardens in Golden Gate Park. The gardens were beautiful, and the girls had a great time running around.

I love how Matt and I are doing the exact same pose in this picture, as we try to corral the girls.

After the Tea Gardens we walked across the street to have a picnic and feed the ducks. Looking at these picture really makes me miss Golden Gate Park. I wish I would have spent more time exploring different parts of the park, I always took the girls to the same places to play. I guess that's what visiting is for...

Olivia enjoying a little juice before we head home.

Movie Date

2009-01-19T16:24:00.000-08:00

Matt and I took the girls to see Horton Hears A Who in the movie theater, it was a lot of fun. The girls were super excited and actually did pretty well until about the last twenty minutes. It was a darling movie and a great way to spend our Saturday.

I love the little booster seats you can get at the theater, such a great idea.

After the movie we went outside and looked at the waterfalls and then across the street to play at the Yerba Buena playground. It was a great day.

This picture is completely unrelated to the post, I just thought it was cute.

Maddie Turns Four!

2009-01-18T15:40:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to our sweet little Maddie girl! We had such a great day celebrating with you. First things first, your favorite breakfast scrambled eggs, bacon and waffles.Olivia was excited too!
A little birthday wrestling with Olivia.
Your most favorite foods for dinner, grilled cheese sandwich, broccoli and apples.
I love this picture of Maddie with all of her presents, her little pose kills me. What a ham.

I love the excitement on all three of their faces in this picture!

A funny memory from the day, Maddie HAD to eat her birthday cake on a new cake plate we got. What a fancy girl!
Olivia doesn't care how it's served as long as she gets some! Yummy yummy!

This is a horrible picture but it's the best one we could get of all four of us. Happy Birthday Maddie, we love you so much and are so grateful to have you in our family! You make all of our days so happy with your sweet little personality.

Princesses On Ice

2009-01-18T10:22:00.000-08:00

The day after we got back from Spokane Maddie and I got to go see the Princesses on Ice show. We got tickets with a few of Maddie's little friends and their mom's. It was perfectly princess in every way. Maddie and her friends had a blast!

Here's Maddie all ready to go in her Cinderella dress.

The show was really cute, and we were super lucky to have such great seats. The girls could see the whole thing perfectly. This isn't the best picture, but you get the idea.

Taeler, Kinley and Maddie.

Maddie and Kinley, these two are such sweet little friends.

Four little princesses, Tessa, Maddie, Kinley, and Taeler.

After the show we all went out to dinner. Then Maddie and I shopped and went to Cold Stone for ice cream. It was the perfect little date.

Time To Go

2008-12-16T09:17:00.000-08:00

Olivia LOVES her grandpa's. Whether it's my dad or Matt's dad, she just lights up when she see's them. When my dad was home she would just follow him into the office, or around the house, and sit and cuddle with him. She is such a "lovey" little girl. I had to capture a few pictures of her and grandpa before we left.Here they are at the Mission office right before we went to the airport. My mom and dad always like to take the kids to the office to meet everyone.
I was trying to get a picture of just my mom and Olivia and this is what I got. What a little stinker! The funniest thing about this picture is my dad in the background. You can tell from his stance that he is loving this and can't wait to "rescue" Olivia from my mom! So funny.

Maddie loves...I didn't get a picture but it's true, that Maddie is such a grandma's girl. This goes for both grandma's too!

Quick family photo before we left.
I love this picture, I had to include it.

To Grandmother's House We Go Part Three

2008-12-14T18:27:00.000-08:00

While we were visting in Spokane, we decided to have a little Birthday celebration for Maddie. We made her favorite pasta, yummy cheesy toast, and veggies, and of course chocolate cake. While she was napping one day, I did a little decorating and wrapped her presents. She was so surprised when she came upstairs to see all of this for her!

The Birthday girl! We had the table all set with party hats, and necklaces for everyone to wear and noisemakers just for fun. Unfortunately my dad had some business to attend to so he couldn't be there for the actual dinner, but I know he would have loved it and was sad to miss out. My mama sporting her party hat, and Olivia with her little noisemaker.

Quite possibly one of the worst pictures of me, but I had to post because it's the only one with Maddie and I at her par-tay.
My little Sweetie girl. She was so excited to put FOUR candles in her cake.

I love that little face.

And this little face too!

The little party animal.
Presents! Maddie was thrilled with her new game she got from grandma and grandpa. It's a fishing game where the fish spin and open and close their mouths and you have to try and fish for the the fish with your little pole. She loves it and we still play it all the time -thank you again grandma and grandpa. I just have to say that I love that my mama is still wearing her party hat in this picture...and yes she is the only one!

To Grandmother's House We Go Part Two...

2008-12-14T18:06:00.000-08:00

Whenever we go to see my parents, the house is always stocked with lot's of chocolate milk and fresh new playdough. The girls love to sit at the kitchen couter with their chef hats on and make all kinds of goodies with their playdough. This time we had a surprise waiting for us when we got there. My parents had put together a little basket of goodies for the girls! It was a hit, especially the cinderella nightlight and window clings for the sliding glass door!

Checking out the goods.

It was pretty cold outside and so whenever Maddie wanted to go out she had to get pretty bundled up first. I didn't bring a scarf, or gloves, or even a hat with us so she borrowed from my mom. She went to the closet to get her gear on and this is how she came out! I was cracking up! My favorite picture is the next one. Her face looks so round and chubby and that forced half smile is the greatest!

To Grandmother's House We Go...

2008-12-14T17:02:00.000-08:00

In March I took the girls for a much needed visit to Spokane to visit my parents and sister Alisha. It was right before Maddie's fourth birthday so we got to have a little par-tay for her while we were there. It is always so fun to go visit my parents and be in the Mission home with them. While we were at the airport I had fun taking a few pictures of the girls. We had quite the adventure too, there were about 15 or 20 people on our flight and they boarded us all (we were flying Southwest and they stopped doing the mothers and children pre-boarding so it was really fun to try and corral the girls and keep them from running onto the plane while we waited in the C boarding group and did I mention there were only like 15 or 20 people total on the flight!! Did we really need to separate into boarding groups A, B, and C???)then 20 minutes later made us all get off the plane while they switched our plane for a different one. I love how digital cameras can keep kids entertained. They love to see the pictures of themselves...and thank goodness, because this has saved me on more than one occasion.

Olivia in Maddie's giant Valentine's Day glasses.

Finally on the plane! And after only an hour and three completely rude Southwest employee encounters later!!! I was able to get flight vouchers for me and Maddie, thank you Southwest! I love your inexpensive flights but sometimes your customer service just isn't worth the savings.

Maddie loves to get her Southwest wings, and for some reason always thinks they are for a mustache. I don't even think she knows anyone with a mustache, so I have no clue where she got this from. Her grandpa Carpenter used to have one but that's been gone for years. I always get a good laugh when she puts the wings on!

I wish this picture had better light, but you get the idea. Her expression is priceless, she is so silly!

Whoops!!

2008-12-12T15:52:00.001-08:00

So I am a little slow and forgot that my email address is actually
mcarp5 (AT) hotmail. (COM)....Sorry for the inconvenience :)

It's That Time Of Year

2008-12-12T08:48:00.000-08:00

It's that wonderful time of year again, which means I am behind and need help getting addresses for Christmas cards! If you want a card from the Carpenter fam, just email me at
mcarp (AT) hotmail. (COM)
-hopefully writing it out that way will save me from getting all sorts of nasty emails. We would love cards from all of you as well. Hope everyone is doing well and getting ready for Christmas!!

The Last Supper

2008-12-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

The night before Dan and Ashley moved we decided to head to one of our favorite mexican food restaurants Tia Margarita's for our "last supper". The food was of course delicious as always but the company couldn't have been better. We love the Henry's so much and are so grateful for our friendship. We're so lucky to be down in San Diego and neighbors once again!

At dinner Maddie and Dan were re-enacting (I'm not sure how to spell that...) the "napkin head" from The Holiday. The Holiday is probably one of the greatest movies of my life, I just love it and could watch it over and over.

Nacho Libre

2008-12-02T17:15:00.000-08:00

Matt and I both loved Nacho Libre, every now and then we watch it and it still has me laughing all the way through. A while back I was getting Olivia ready and I put on her little bloomers that go with her dress and they were soooo tight! I was cracking up, and she was pretty thrilled with herself as well. Little did we know we have a little Luchador on our hands! I of course had to take pictures, and now have to share them! I love all the different views...

These last two are probably my favorites. What a little chunka chunk.

"I need to borrow some sweats".

Just A Bunch Of Happy Kids

2008-12-02T07:43:00.000-08:00

These are just a bunch of random pictures of the girls that I thought were cute. I love the picture above where Olivia is just so thrilled with herself and her baby dolly. She is so much fun!

Playing at the park.

These pictures of the girls with Calvin are so adorable. Maddie really wanted to read her books to Calvin, so we propped them up together on the couch and I think they were both in heaven. I love Cal's chubby little face, he's so cute!

This one makes me laugh out loud! Maddie's hold on Cal's head, and his unsure but happy little face, and Olivia trying to be a part of it all by sitting next to them and saying "cheeeeese"! It is so funny. A while ago Maddie said it best "We're just a bunch of happy kids". I love when we have pictures to remember the simple "happy kid" moments.

Alcatraz

2008-11-30T16:36:00.000-08:00

Another fun weekend with the Henry's, only this time we went to Alcatraz. We got on the ferry to ride over early that morning, and then did the tour. It was really fascinating and something I would recommend doing at least once when you're in San Francisco. My favorite part was during about 5 or 6 chapters of the story my headset only played the backround noises, not the narration. I had no clue what was going on I just kept following the group -it was pretty funny actually.

Here's Matt all locked up.

The view from Alcatraz is so pretty. You can see everything! It made the city seem so small, from where we were at least.

The girls were such troopers during the tour, they both sat in their stroller the entire time! We all needed a little bit of a break after the tour and so we let the girls run around and play on this wall for a bit while we took some pictures.

The Funnest Day Part Two

2008-11-26T10:21:00.000-08:00

Here are Matt and Maddie at the top of Coit Tower. After taking the bite size elevator up to the top we then had to walk up a narrow winding stair case to the actual tower. Keeping the girls from going up and down the stairs while we were up there was quite a task. Not to mention keeping Olivia from flying down them face first!

Quick family photo outside the entrance.

Coit Tower, and a huge glare from our lovely camera and photography skills.

On the trolly heading downtown for some shopping and a few rides in the elevator at the St. Francis Hotel. We were downtown for hours, it was so fun. One of my favorite parts was when we tried to take a taxi back to the wharf where our cars were parked. We saw a van taxi and when we got in two of the seven seats were missing so half of us ended up sitting on the floor for our fifteen minute cab ride. It was so exciting.

A quick picture of just Matt and I on our way home.

The Funnest Day!

2008-11-15T17:12:00.000-08:00

When we found out our sweet friends the Henry's were moving to San Diego we were SO sad. On the other hand, we were really excited because we would be meeting them down there in just a few short months when Matt graduated! Nevertheless, to make up for our sadness we had some of the funnest days ever! We had big adventures all over the city seeing some of the sights that we had not seen before and visiting some of our favorite spots. There is so much to see and do in San Francisco I just love it! One Saturday we decided to go to Coit Tower, ride the trolley downtown, and do some window shopping and playing in the elevator at the Westin St. Francis - if you have not ridden in one of the tower elevators it is a must! So much fun and great views of Union Square. In order to have enough energy for our fun filled day we started out at Mama's for some deliciousness. This first picture is Maddie taking care of baby Cal while we waited in line.
Cute little Olivia, waiting in line.
The girlies mothering Calvin.
The deliciousness...
Maddie eating her bacon like a crazy girl!

Pier 39

2008-10-23T07:39:00.000-07:00

When we were living in San Francisco I had the opportunity to watch my friend Carrie's little girl Lauren about once a week or so. At first we would stay home and play most of the day with an occasional escape to the park. Then I got a little bit braver and just started taking all three girls everywhere...even to the grocery store! We met up with some friends down at Pier 39 one day for some fun walking around and delicious snacks. Not to mention a ride on the most expensive carousel! Try getting out of that with three little girls!
Watching the sea lions with the beautiful city in the backround. I love San Francisco!
Carousel time, look at those happy little faces!

Some News...

2008-10-10T07:38:00.000-07:00

So, for some of you this is old news but I figured it's about time to post about it on the bloggity blog....we're having a BABY! We actually found out back in May and haven't kept it a secret or anything, I just thought I would wait until I caught up on my blog to add our current news. Silly, I know because I don't know if I will ever be caught up! Anyway, our little bundle of joy is expected to arrive January 26, I'm already six months along! This is going to go so fast for all of you bloggers out there just waiting for this new babe to make her debut...that's right, IT'S A GIRL!!! We couldn't be more excited for another little princess in our house, the girls are both thrilled, especially that it's a girl. I was actually pretty worried for a while before we knew what we were having because whenever we would ask Maddie if she thought it was a boy or a girl, she would insist it was a girl. I would try to tell her "It could be a little brother too, and wouldn't that be so fun"... and one time I asked her what she would do with a little brother and without a moments hesitation she whipped her head around to me and goes "I wouldn't play with it"! She is such a silly girl. Now if only we could decide on a name Maddie approves of, she is very particular about it. She wants the baby to be named Audrey just like her cute little cousin, (and two of the baby dolls in our house!). She also likes to make up words and have that be the babe's name, and whenever I offer something else to the table she gets really upset and has even cried about the matter! Olivia, loves to kiss the baby and say "she likes you" which I hope means both I like her and she likes me. We're all so excited and can't wait to meet our sweet baby girl.

Valentines Day

2008-10-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

This year we had a really fun Valentine's Day. We put together little Valentine gifts for the girls, and then later took them to a little Valentines party.
Digging in!
A few weeks before Valentine's Day I saw these glasses and had to get them for the girls. I love those big hearts on those chubby little cheeks.
When I was picking out the glasses Maddie found these JLo shades and HAD to have them. They are like five sizes too big for her face, but she doesn't care she still wears them to this day.
At the Valentines party the kids passed out cards, played games, and decorated cupcakes. It was a blast. This is Maddie with her little friend Kinley, both in true form scarfing down some cupcakes.

Pearls, Primary and Pictures

2008-10-06T09:34:00.000-07:00

We are still trying to play catch up with our blog, it's going to happen someday...we can only hope! These pictures of Olivia are so classic, she loves to have as much of her jewelry on at once. "I pity the fool".
This last year Maddie became a Sunbeam, and started going to primary and a few weeks later Olivia started nursery. The girls seem so grown up now. It was really weird those first few weeks to be at church and not have Olivia in my classes with me. I tried to get a picture of them on their first Sundays in new classes, this is the best we could do. So we opted for individual shots, they're still kind of silly!
Maddie and her chipper little self, she is so mad at me for taking her picture!

Wicked Weekend

2008-09-05T07:58:00.000-07:00

In January I was able to go with 15 other UOP Dental wives to L.A. to see Wicked! Our big adventure started with a super early flight out of SFO on Saturday morning, down to L.A. Here is me, Sandee and Katie on the plane, we're so excited!
We had four rooms booked at the Renaissance Marriot Hotel right at the Hollywood and Highland shopping center. After getting settled in our rooms and grabbing some lunch we decided to head out to the Grove for some shopping. Here is Christina bravely riding in the front seat of our Taxi.
Katie, me and Sandee in the back seat.
The Grove was so fun. They had just about every store you could ever want, and tons of restaurants. It is just the most fun place to shop and if you havn't ever been there , you need to go. It's amazing and the way it is set up with the little street down the middle and the trolley cars going up and down is adorable.
Not to mention all of the "celebrity" sightings! While we were there we saw Jose Canseco, and Shane Sparks from So You Think You Can Dance! We had to get a picture with him, he was definately a favorite choreographer from the show. I love him!

For some reason these are the only pictures I can find of this glorious weekend I know there were a ton more taken, just don't know where they are. I just have to recap the days so I don't forget. After we got back from shopping we got ready to go to dinner and the show. We ate dinner at this Italian restaurant in Hollywood and Highland and then on to the show! It was amazing! I LOVED every second of it. The girl who played Glinda was so perfect, she couldn't have been any cuter. I can't wait to see it again, and hopefully soon! After the show some of us girls went to Johnny Rockets for some shakes and fries. While trying to get a group picture I slipped on the table and knocked an entire glass of ice water in Sandee's lap! I was so shocked and felt so bad, but thankfully Sandee and I are still friends! After Johnny Rockets about ten of us got together in one of the rooms to watch WWF between some of the girls, and dance routines from others. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard in my life! The next morning we had to get up bright and early for our flight home. It was the most fun weekend with the greatest group of girls, I had a blast! None of it would have come together if it weren't for sweet Katie - thank you again for working so hard, it was the perfect trip!

Glasses

2008-08-31T15:58:00.000-07:00

When I was little I had to wear glasses, and they have been the source of lots of laughter ever since. I watched Sandee and Charlie's boys for them a while back and when they came to pick the boys up somehow these glasses found their way onto their faces. We were all dying laughing!
This picture of Brock is just priceless.
Gotta' love it!

Birthdays

2008-08-31T15:49:00.000-07:00

My dear friends Katie and Sandee both have birthdays in January. To celebrate a few of us girls went out to breakfast at a little place in Sausalito called Dipsea. The food was delicious and the company was the greatest, I miss all these girls so much.

Napa Part Three

2008-08-31T14:47:00.000-07:00

While we were in Napa we stayed at the greatest little Best Western Bed and Breakfast. We loved it! They had a hot tub so we were able to put the kids to bed in our hotel room and then go down with the Henry's.
The next morning there was a complimentary breakfast and it was super yummy.
A quick family shot.
After shopping at the outlets for a couple of hours, and getting some lunch we went on a little walk. The weather was perfect, it was so beautiful outside.
I stopped at a Whole Foods with Ashley to pick up a few things including these grapes. They were so delicious, we all had to laugh at the fact that here we are in Napa with vineyards everywhere you look and we're snacking on grapes shipped in from out of the country.

Napa Part Two

2008-08-30T17:58:00.000-07:00

The girls had tons of fun just rolling around on a patch of grass, they were being so cute we couldn't resist taking a few photos.

Matt and I with some of the winery behind us.
Before going out to dinner that evening we had to stop at this little grocery store. It was adorable, filled with yummy breads, pastas, suaces, pastries...I could go on and on. We all loved it and came back with a few yummy treats to remember it by.

Napa

2008-08-30T17:33:00.000-07:00

It's been forever we know, but once we get all caught up you'll see just how busy we've been! So, back in January we went on a quick little trip up to Napa with the Henry's. It was so much fun! Matt and I had been wanting to go there for the last two and a half years and thanks to the Henry's fun planning we finally did! On our way up there we stopped at the Sonoma Traintown and walked around for a little bit and let the girls go on a couple of rides and explore on the old train cars.
Here's Maddie riding on the airplanes. We weren't sure how much she would like the rides but she loved this, especially when she got the lever pulled down just right and could raise the plane up and down as she went around!
Olivia was so sad and confused watching Maddie go on the plane while she had to watch from the bench with the rest of us. Poor little thing, eventually she got over it.
After the Traintown we stopped in the little downtown Sonoma square and had some delicious lunch at the Sunflower Cafe. We walked around the square a little bit more and tasted some yummy treats at the Cheese Factory. We then headed up to Napa, but we had to stop at this amazing winery on our way. The grounds were incredible!
The happy little travelers.

The Throw Ups And Then Some

2008-05-24T15:55:00.000-07:00

A few days after Christmas our little Olivia got the flu! The girls had never had the flu before and Matt and I hadn't either in years, so we were a little terrified of how to handle this!! Luckily we were at the Carpenter's so we could throw in laundry all the time and we were so grateful for it! After many calls to and from our amazing pediatricians, and seven days of the barfs, Matt getting sick two days after Olivia, me right as Matt started to feel better, we were finally done with the throw ups! I am still amazed that Maddie never got sick -it must be all of the city germ exposure she's had over the years! That and I made her sleep with me on the floor of the living room while Matt and Olivia were sick.
There were a few times we propped Olivia on the couch and wrapped a blanket around her neck like a huge bib, that way when anything came up the blanket would catch it. I think that Matt and I grew so much as parents through this, it was really alot of work and alot of stress to see our little girl feel so terrible for so long. Every time we thought she was feeling better and kept some fluids down for a few hours, up they would come. We were all so exausted by the end of the week, we needed another vacation.
When we knew she was finally feeling better we took a walk down to the park for some much needed fresh air. It was really sad to see the little bit of weight she lost during the week. Thankfully she bounced back to her old round self in no time!

Maddie and Ashley swinging!
Cute picture of Matt playing on the bridge with Olivia.
For Christmas Grandma and Grandpa gave the girls a set of dress up shoes and fancy jewelry, and they LOVED it! The girls love to have fancy shoes and accessories so this was the perfect gift!
Here is Maddie going down to show Grandpa and Daddy her loveliness!
Ashley likes to play these little pac man type games on the computer and Maddie loves to sit with her and watch her play. I think this is such a cute picture of the girls!

Christmas Parties

2008-05-23T21:48:00.000-07:00

We went to Grandma Carpenter's for Christmas dinner and family gift exchange. Amy and I were having fun being Santa's helpers and passing out gifts. We both got yummy hot chocolate and mulling spices from Grandma, yumm!!
The day after Christmas we had a get together at Matt's parents house with as many friends from high school as could come. It was so great to see so many friends we haven't seen in a long time. My great friend Alexis came and it was so fun to catch up! Our friends Dan and Ashley did all of the work to throw this little party, thank you guys so much! We had so much fun catching up with everyone that was there!
Maddie LOVES the Carpenter's dog Lobo, she is obsessed with her. Lobo is getting older but she is the most patient dog ever. The girls love to lay on her, or in her dog bed with her (sometimes without her!) and give her treats. Lobo only runs away from them every once in a while!!
Three little doggies!
Olivia's hair is killing me, it had to have been in pigtails the day before or something!

Christmas Morning

2008-05-23T21:16:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Christmas morning at the Carpenter's house. Another tradition they have that I love is we eat a delicious breakfast together before we open presents. Then everyone races into the living room to their "spot" where there is a blanket set up to sit on and put all of your opened presents on. I love this every time I think it's so fun! This picture above is of Olivia playing with some of her new toys from Santa.
Matt's cute mom loves American Girl dolls and everything that come with them. Matt's sister's both have had dolls and Maddie got a Bitty Baby a couple of years ago that she and Olivia love. Anyway, Matt's dad surprised Mary this year and got her a doll that looks just like her! It was really cute how surprised and excited she was.
Maddie and Olivia got a Barbie guitar and keyboard for Christmas and they loved them!! Maddie played with them alot that day! She kept putting on the headset microphone upside down, we thought it was pretty funny!
I (thanks to my dear friend Ashley) was able to surprise Matt with a Wii for Christmas! He had no idea I was getting it for him, and was really surprised! We had such a good time playing with Matt's family and some of our friends over the break. It was really fun to get this big gift for Matt and have it be such a secret! Thanks again so much Ashley, I couldn't have pulled this off without you!

Maddie testing out her singing skills on her new microphone.

Christmas Eve

2008-05-09T09:21:00.000-07:00

After Islands we came home and read the story of Jesus' birth from the Bible and then we read some Christmas stories. The girls were being really cute sitting with Grandpa while he read.
Maddie's face in this picture is so great. She really tries so hard to get those smiles for me!
Opening Christmas jammies! This is another one of my favorite traditions in the Carpenter house! Matt's mom and dad are so cute, they get all of us new pajamas and we get to open them Christmas eve. It's the best!
The boys always have all matching pajamas, it's so great!
Our little family portrait. We were kind of obsessed with pictures because all of us kiddies got Mary and Ray a digital picture frame for Christmas and we wanted as many pictures of all of us as possible.

Islands

2008-04-13T20:33:00.000-07:00

Every Christmas Eve Matt's family goes to this restaurant Islands for dinner. Before we go we usually doorbell ditch little gifts and chocolates to people who might need a little Christmas cheer. This is a picture of Matt's dad, Amy and her husband Jared, and Matt's brother John, waiting for our yummy food!

Olivia waiting for some cheesy fries.
Matt, me, Matt's mom, Matt's sister Ashley, and Maddie.
Another picture of Amy, Jared and John.
We love the traditions we share with the Carpenter's and look forward to them every year. This year was especially fun because instead of doing lot's of doorbell ditching we knew of one family who could use a little boost. I was able to go with Matt's dad on Christmas eve morning at about 6:45 to do some of the shopping, and it was really great. It felt like I was on a game show, I was shopping for two kids and just kept filling my cart! I loved it! We doorbell ditched the stuff that night and then headed out to dinner. It always feels so good to help those around us, Matt and I felt really blessed to be a part of this little adventure with his family.

Christmas In San Diego

2008-04-08T07:45:00.000-07:00

For Christmas we went to San Diego to be with Matt's family, we were there for three full weeks and had so much fun! Here we are before church on our first Sunday at home. I always like going to our home ward when we go home, especially during the Holidays. It's always fun to see our old friends.
Whenever we go home I love to visit with my older sister and her family. Her kids are so darling and play really well with my girls. We went over to play one day and we walk into the kitchen to find Olivia had climbed up onto the table and was eating candy off of their gingerbread house! We were dying laughing! She was so thrilled with herself , and her yummy little treat!
Over the break Matt and I had so much fun hanging out with his family. One night we went with his brother John, sister Amy and her husband Jared, and Matt's little sister Ashley to get frozen yogurt. It was so nice of Matt's parents to let us put our kids to bed and go out with everyone. When we got back Amy, Ashley and I had a girls movie night in the family room , while the boys went to a movie at the theatre.
It was a lot of fun to watch a movie just us girls. Ashley is getting so much older, I can't believe it!! I think that Amy and I lasted about 20 minues into the movie before we fell asleep. Ashley is so cute, I think she stayed up and finished the movie all by herself.
This is Amy's husband Jared...or "uncle Jerry" as we call him! I'm not so sure how he feels about this, but when the girls call for him it's really cute. Olivia had a lot of fun reading Christmas books with "Jerry", and I think he had fun too! Our little girlies are so lucky to have such great aunts and uncles who love them and love to spend time with them.

Christmas, Cupcakes, and Jammies

2008-04-06T18:55:00.001-07:00

My friend Sandee and I got our kids together before Christmas break to give each other a little gift and decorate cupcakes.
Olivia and Blake being cute, sitting on the counter eating tons of grapes.
We let the kids decorate the cupcakes and they had so much fun. There were sprinkles all over the place!
Olivia and Blake and their cute little cupcake faces!
I got the girls some new Christmas jammies and they looked so cute I just had to get a picture. Pictures taken after the bath always make me laugh, the girls both look like "slick rick" with their wet hair. I love it!

Hot Chocolate

2008-04-06T11:15:00.000-07:00

Hot chocolate has become a very popular treat this year in our house! Maddie is in love with the stuff almost as much as Matt and I. Here we are at Dan and Ashley's enjoying some of the wonderful chocolaty goodness! Dan and Ash had these great mugs that looked like s'mores -Maddie was obsessed with them!
Please don't judge the dishtowel bib, I just couldn't risk ruining her cream sweater dress!
Maddie and I having a date in my bed watching The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. It was so fun to have a little date with our drinks and a movie. Maddie is just my kind of girl, I love spending special time with her.

Getting Ready For Christmas

2008-04-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

Before we left for Christmas break Maddie was invited to a party to make gingerbread houses at her little friend Ava's house. Ava is in our Ward and also takes dance class with Maddie, they are really sweet little friends.
Maddie and Ava eating their frosting straight from the bag.
The finished product.
This is the best picture I could get of Maddie with her little house. I think the house lasted about five minutes before she ate most of it!

Thanksgiving Part Three

2008-03-16T15:24:00.000-07:00

While we had Matt's brother here we wanted to take him to see some of the sights...there are so many pictures!!! Here is Olivia getting ready to "go bye bye" in the car!
The first place we went was Alamo Square where the famous "Painted Ladies" or "Full House" houses are. There is a really fun park in the square too, so we stayed for a while and let the girls play.
Olivia loves the slides, and the swings. She could back and forth between those two all day!

While we were playing I looked up at John and noticed there was a butterfly just sitting on his shoulder!! I thought it was so neat I had to take a few pictures. It loved John too, it stayed on his shoulder for what felt like ten minutes!!
Such a cute picture of uncle Johnny! The butterfly looks fake or something, how it is just sitting there. It flew away right after this picture.
We were trying to get some pictures of Matt and I and the girls...but we know how that goes, so we tried to take some of just the girls. Olivia hammed it up for about ten minutes!
This is honestly the greatest picture of Maddie, it captures exactly how she was feeling about taking picures!!!
Matt and Uncle Johnny with the Painted Ladies.

Matt and John at the Golden Gate Bridge...I was in the car with the girls circling around the parking lot.

We took John to Ghiradelli Square which of course meant we had to have a Kara's Cupcake. They are the yummiest things ever, we love them!!! Everything that they use to make their cupcakes is grown locally, which is kind of neat.
Maddie and Johnny devouring their cupcakes!
All of us in front of a cute Christmas tree decorated with huge, fake Ghiradelli chocolates.
This is just for fun Olivia loves to climb in the toy baskets, I thought it was a cute picture. She always climbs in while there are still toys in it and then continues to throw eveything out under her.

Thanksgiving Part Two

2008-03-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

During Thanksgiving weekend we went to see "So You Think You Can Dance" on tour with Dan and Ashley. It was so much fun! Matt and Dan had gotten us tickets for our birthday's back in August. We were so grateful to our friends the Budd's, in our ward for watching our girls for us so we could go. Matt's brother was still at our house and was so nice to just hang out that night while we went.
Ashley and I outside of the Oracle practicing our dance moves! The show was so good, I wasn't really sure what to expect but it did not dissapoint!! I loved watching all of the dancers, they are so amazing on t.v. but that doesn't even compare to watching them live. I am dying for the new season to start!!!
We were so excited to go, we don't go out very often without our girls so it was really fun to hang out with our great friends like we used to before all the babies came along. Thanks again to the Budd's for making this possible for us. We felt so bad asking them to watch our kids over the holiday weekend when they probably just wanted to be doing stuff as a family. We really appreciated it!
On the way home we stopped downtown for about 30 seconds to take a picture in front of the big Christmas tree in union square. You can see the snowflakes in the windows of Saks in the backround, it was really pretty. I love this city, we are really going to miss living here.

Thanksgiving Part One

2008-02-24T17:02:00.000-08:00

We love Thanksgiving and look forward to it all year, and this year did not disappoint! We were lucky enough to have Matt's brother John come visit and we got to celebrate with Dan and Ashley, and Dan's brother Matt and his wife April. We had so much delicious food, I think I ate about ten rolls at dinner alone!! This is a picture of Olivia during Thanksgiving dinner. A while back we loaned some of our baby stuff to Dan and Ashley for baby Cal and I swear Olivia remembers that it was hers. She always wants to sit in the baby swing, or she helps herself to the bouncer. She is so funny, so it being a holiday and all we had to stick her in the swing....she is enormous!!!!
Our Thanksgiving dinner was so yummy and we ate it up so fast we don't have any pictures of it, just this delcious carmel pumpkin cheesecake Ashley made.
Here we are in the kitchen after dinner with the turkey carcass. We had such a fun time stuffing ourselves, and hanging out with family and friends, and were so grateful to have John here visiting. After dinner we wached the movie Elf. Maddie had never seen it before, so it was really funny to watch her reactions. She was really enjoying it until the end when Santa's sleigh crashes in the park. She about died, and so did I watching her! She sat up on the couch and started screaming "Oh no, oh no, oh no, Santa's sleigh oh no, oh no"! It was hysterical, she was practically crying. She is such a tender little thing, and we love her!

Pictures Pictures

2008-02-12T20:33:00.000-08:00

Maddie and Olivia love to play airplane with Matt and I, they just crack up when they are up there. We sure love these girlies!
A while back we had a little photo shoot during dinner. Olivia was loving her some pizza and polished it off pretty quickly.
Her face usually looks like this when she's done eating.

Maddie was a little more into the posing than her pizza. Her little hand under her chin is killing me in this picture. Notice Olivia was done eating and Maddie had barely started at this point...pretty typical in our house.
So, I am pretty into sanitizing in our house, and I guess it has made quite an impression on my kids. I came out to find Maddie playing with her barbie dolls, and all of the dolls were naked and had a squirt of sanitizer on their bums!!! I was dying! I asked her what she was doing and she said "I'm just sanitizing their bums so they could get in their tubby"!! -we call the bath tub, "tubby" in our house.
She made their "tubby" with her tea set container, she was so proud of her great idea!
Olivia thought this was pretty silly and really wanted a picture of herself while I was trying to capture the moment with Maddie.
I promise I don't sanitze these cute little bums before I put them in the tubby!

Halloween

2008-02-05T20:17:00.001-08:00

For Halloween this year Maddie was Tinkerbell and Olivia was a Pumpkin - the same costume we used for Maddie a couple of years ago! The girls were so cute all dressed up and had a lot of fun at all of the festivities.
Here we are at our Ward party with Dan, Ashley and baby Cal. Obviously Dan and Ash were Tigger and Pooh, at the last minute Matt and I decided to dress up as Dwight and Pam from one of our favorite TV shows The Office.
When Matt wasn't wearing his nasty Dwight glasses I think people thought we weren't dressed up and had just come back for the Temple or something. I felt like I had to give anyone I talked to a disclaimer " Oh, I am dressed up...as Pam from the Office". It was pretty funny. The party was great, oh except for Olivia's MAJOR meltdown, like nothing I have ever seen! I left early with her and drove around for a while, so Maddie and Matt could stay and have fun with her friends.
Carving pumpkins! We had such a fun time carving pumpkins with the girls. We hadn't carved pumpkins since we got married!! Maddie wasn't so sure about shoving her hand in and pulling out the seeds at first, but eventually she warmed up.
Yummy Yum!!
We decided to carve the pumpkins to look like the girls. At the time Olivia was still really into making the face she's making in the picture, and for Maddie we did a smiley pumpkin for our happy girl.
Another fun thing we did to celebrate Halloween was go to Pottery Barn Kids for story time and face painting. Maddie enjoyed the stories and Olivia just played in the store. Afterwards Maddie got a cute little butterfly painted on her cheek.
On Halloween Sandee and I took our kids to go trick or treating at Corte Madera. It was really fun and easy, the kids ran from store to store that was passing out candy. I love this picture of Maddie and Brock, they are such adorable little friends.
Olivia and Blake just hanging out. Have you ever seen a more precious cowboy!?! Blake was darling in his costume he had such a little strut, perfect for a cowboy.
We had a little bit of a rough start to our trick or treating but we ended up having such a fun time. Dan, Ashley and baby Cal were sweet enough to take the bus over to join us. It was so freezing outside so we weren't out for too long but it was so much fun. Maddie jumped right in and Olivia followed along with a little help from Matt or I. We can't believe how fast the girls are growing, it is so much fun while at the same time it breaks my heart. I would just giggle as I watched Maddie go to the door and say her little "trick or treat", she is so sweet.
I love this picture!!! I know I will have pictures like this every year for the next million but I can't stand how cute it was to see the girls go to the door together and get their treats.
The stash.
We were checking out the girls candy and pulling out anything that looked questionable when we looked over to see Olivia going to town on a tootsie pop! We couldn't resist a picture of her sitting in front of her big pile eating her lollipop.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-01-13T15:09:00.000-08:00

This year we went to a Pumpkin Patch that I have wanted to go to for the last few years and I am so glad we did. It was really fun, there were lots of great pumpkins to choose from and they had a bunch of jump toys for the kids to play on. Maddie and Olivia had a blast with Brock and Blake.
Great picture...The funniest thing that happened that day was when Maddie and Brock were going down this astro jump spaceship slide. Sandee and I were waiting and waiting and they weren't coming down and none of the other kids in line were either. So, I decided to go up and make sure everything was okay. There were about six kids in line behind them and they were all screaming and pushing on Maddie and Brock, who were freaking out and stuck in a space so small that I nearly had a panic attack trying to get them out. Not to mention there was this big girl who was sitting on Brock's lap trying to get past him and go down the slide.
I love how much Olivia was hating this picture! Poor girl...I love pictures where she is so mad and crying, they just make me laugh.
These pictures of Maddie crack me up! She always comes out of her room with the best accessories and funniest little get-ups.
Crazy girl!

Just Hanging Out

2008-01-12T18:49:00.000-08:00

I was going through the girls clothes trying to see what still fits and Olivia was a great assistant during the process.
I don't really know what this is I just threw it in for fun.
Look at that profile! She is a crack up!
A few (well quite a few) weeks ago we had Maddie's friend McKenna over to play, and the girls had a blast playing dress ups. McKenna is such a fun friend, she and Maddie get along really well. My favorite thing about this picture is the bunny ears...what!?
Olivia couldn't miss out on all the dress up fun. She could hardly walk in the dress, but she loved every second of it!

Fleet Week

2007-12-16T16:11:00.001-08:00

Every year I forget that Fleet Week is coming and on the first day of practices there is always that moment where I could swear that we are under terrorist attack!!! Because this is our last year in the city I thought it would be fun to go down for a practice day. It was really fun, to see the planes. I think our favorites were the toy looking ones that would spiral down to the ground and do all kinds of flips and tricks, and of course the Blue Angels! I think that Sandee and I were more into it than our kids :)
All of the kids were so good, it was so cold and so loud that I was amazed at how happy they stayed! Maddie and Brock were trying to keep each other warm, so cute.
All bundled up.
Olivia's funny freezing face! For a good laugh try blowing this one up!
Coldy, coldy, cold...

Some More San Diego

2007-12-16T15:52:00.001-08:00

While we were in San Diego we also went to the Maritime Museum. It was so much fun, we got to explore a couple of ships and a submarine. The sub was a little intense especially when the kids would start to get a little restless, I kept getting little rushes of panic!! It was a little intense. We had so much fun with Grandma, Grandpa, Ashley and John while we were visiting and can't wait to live closer.
I have to say, one of my favorite parts of the sub was coming out and looking at the Celebrity Cruise Ship a little ways away. Going on a cruise would be so fun, and from the outside that ship looked like a blast!
Maddie, Ash, and Olivia trying out the cots in the submarine.
Matt and I taking a quick rest.
This is kind of random, but Olivia looked so cute riding around the yard in the wagon -I just had to share!

Really Quick...

2007-12-10T15:54:00.000-08:00

If anyone wants a Christmas Card from the Carpenter's this year please email me with your address. If you think that I have your address you're probably wrong and I know you don't want to miss out on our card!!! Let me know asap I am trying to actually get my cards out before New Year's! My email is mcarp5@hotmail.com

San Diego

2007-11-29T07:54:00.000-08:00

We spent our September break from school in San Diego, and as usual we had so much fun relaxing, seeing friends and family. Olivia has gotten really into making this funny face and Maddie likes to do it right back. We have all gotten a good kick out of it! Just though we would share.
We took Maddie to ride the train at Old Poway Park, she had fun ...we promise this is just not a good picture! She really did enjoy it and so did her little train Molly. I think it is so great that the girls like trains and balls and cars just as much as they like princesses and playing kitchen and dolls.
Not the best picture but they were having fun!!! I promise :)
Matt's mom and dad have a little pop-up camper and they popped it up while we were there for Ashley and her friends to play in and Maddie had a blast playing with the big girls.
Ashley and her friends are so sweet to Maddie. I love this picture, I think it makes Maddie look like such a big girl. She is so lucky to have Ashley as her aunt, they play so well together. It will be fun to see how close they become as they get older (they are only like seven years apart!)

Olivia vs Pasta

2007-11-25T13:55:00.000-08:00

My cousin Tara's husband took these pictures of Olivia while we were at lunch. We had no idea he was taking pictures of Olivia, they turned out so cute I had to share. I love them, so enjoy...

Seriously, who is this girl?
"Oh, I think I'll have the pasta."
"Yeah! I have a plate full of pasta coming my way!!"

"Oh, and another thing..."
" Thpppppppp"
"La da di dada da..."
Things started to get a little intense.
"Boo!"

"Ahhhh..."
"Will my food ever be here....clearly I'm starving"
"This is the life"
"Tommy likey, Tommy want wingy!"
"Delicious!"

All of these were taken right in a row while we were waiting for our food to arrive. And then again as we were finishing up. Isn't that so hilarious! All of those faces in such a short amount of time. Look at that buttery little face, I could just eat her, I love this girl! Thanks Colton for the pictures!

ps The score is in...Olivia 154 Pasta 2!!

T & C Part Three

2007-11-18T16:29:00.000-08:00

We had lots of fun driving around looking at beautiful homes and walking around the Palace of Fine Arts.
This picture is so funny they are all kind of doing the same pose.
The MOMA, this was actually so fun! I had never been here before and it was really cool. Tara's husband is going to an Art school near LA in January so it was fun to go with someone who really appreciated everything. After this we went to the mall across the street and wandered around Union Square for a while.
The beautiful Golden Gate. It was even colder outside than it looks in the pictures!!
This is the worst we were sooo cold! Having Tara and Colton here was so much fun and we can't hardly wait until they can come again! We love having company, and sharing all of our favorite places. It makes us so sad to think that our time in this great city will be up so soon.

T & C Part Two

2007-11-18T16:06:00.000-08:00

While Tara and Colton were here some of our funniest times were when we were putting the girls to bed. Colton got these pictures of Olivia and I just think they are so funny!
Love that profile!
So, of course we went to Mama's. And yes, it was just as amazing as always.

Anyone hungry.....

Tara and Colton!!!

2007-11-18T15:25:00.000-08:00

My darling cousin Tara and her husband Colton came to stay with us and we had the time of our lives!!! It all started after we picked them up and went to Tia Margerita's - this little mexican restaurant that is right next to our house that's actually a bar but serves the yummiest food! The food was delicious and our server was even better.
Maddie and Colton sharing his birthday ice cream.

Next we went to the wharf for some great people watching and a little chocolate...
Olivia and Colton taking a little snuggle time before bed.
Maddie wanted to sleep in her little air mattress in her room because Tara and Colton were on an air mattress in the family room. It was pretty cute, she and Olivia loved to snuggle in it before bed.

Matt's New Toy

2007-11-08T20:21:00.000-08:00

We got a bike trailer for Matt's mountain bike! He is really excited about it and has taken the girls out a couple of times already. The girls really like it, even though Olivia put up a fight for our little photo shoot!
Cute sisters. Matt said that when they are riding the girls are so cute, they both just sit there as happy as can be looking out their little windows.
Uh-oh...here we go. And they're friends again!
As usual, Olivia going back for seconds.

Fun, Fun, Fun

2007-11-04T15:03:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we met up with a couple of friends down at the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building downtown. Our friends took the ferry over, and so trying to be adventurous and not wanting to worry about parking we decided to take the bus! I had my very first San Francisco bus ride! It was the girls first time too, obviously, and they actually really liked it. There were definately sights, sounds and smells to be remembered for a lifetime! The Farmer's Market was a blast and the food was amazing, we hope to go back soon!
Maddie was holding on so tight! It's a good thing too because a crowded bus stopping and going pretty quickly can definately get you moving...even when you're scared to touch your surroundings!!!
She did it!!! It has taken probably six months but Maddie can finally pedal her bike on her own! We are so proud of our baby girl. We probably should have practiced more often, but she did it! She loves to ride tricycles and has been able to jump on and do that for quite some time without getting "stuck", but for some reason her little bike had given her (well us) a lot of grief. If we got her started she could keep up the momentum, but if she slowed she would get stuck. So with a few hard practices she rode her bike all by herself to the park by our house! Dan and Ashley were there too, and we were all so proud of Maddie.
And we went to the Zoo! I think this is the last time that I will come on a free day...it was a little bit scary and they weren't even running the train! So, I guess this is the only picture I took of the exciting event, I think I was too scared by the crowd we were surrounded by to be getting in and out of my purse too often! Never a dull moment here in this city!

Sunny Days

2007-11-04T14:43:00.000-08:00

We went with some girls from our ward to the beach a while ago, so I thought I would post the pictures....seeing as how I am still "catching up" on postings. I don't know why but I love this picture, I think that Maddie looks so old in it or something... and Olivia looks like a grandma in her little sun hat with her little grandma body.
Not the best picture, but this is Maddie and her friend Mckenna from our ward. Mckenna is a little bit older than Maddie and is in Primary, so the girls had never really played together until that day. They are really cute friends and get along really well.
All of the babies sitting in a nice little hole.

Tiny Dancer

2007-10-30T21:31:00.000-07:00

Maddie's dance classes finally started! She loves going every week and Olivia and I love to watch her. She is so cute with the other girls in her little class, there is a little girl from our Ward in Maddies class too. They are so cute.
This picture makes me cry!!! She is so sweet, I love my Maddie so much!
I don't really know what they are doing but I love to catch any action shots that I can. We have to watch from a little doorway, so I take what I can get every week! On the last Wednesday of every month the parents get to come in the class to watch, it is so fun! And yes, Olivia thinks she is in the class too, last week she went and sat on the upstage line with the class while they waited to get a sticker from Ms. Burn. Silly girl.
"Kissing toes" Maddie is doing so well! We love dance class and I love when Maddie shows me all her "moves" when we have dance parties at home.
This is what we do while Maddie is in class, well this or Olivia loves to go in the really big studio, with mirrored walls all around and stained glass windows. It's kind of funny she likes to just watch herself run around in the mirror.

BADM

2007-10-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

These are pictures from an adventure at the Bay Area Discovery Museum. I thought this first one was cute of Maddie and Brock painting on the windows.
Maddie riding her pony...
Oliva squishing a pony!
The kids love to play with the plastic fishies in the water, I have learned my lesson one too many times and always try to bring extra clothes!
Cute little lovey.

Park Days

2007-10-29T07:39:00.000-07:00

We have a couple of really fun parks right near our house that the girls really like. These are just a few random pictures of the last few times we went.
Olivia loves the swings!
Maddie is so big! She had watched an older girl jump from the side step to the rings, and after lots of watching decided to give it a try. She did it all by herself and without any pushing from me. Next thing on her to do list is monkey bars! I know it is nothing huge but I love seeing my kids be so brave and trying new things!

Look Who's Walking

2007-10-05T20:21:00.000-07:00

About six weeks ago Olivia was getting closer to walking and she would hang on us and walk with us wherever we went. Then she started doing it to Maddie, and they both got the biggest kick out of it! It was pretty cute. Olivia finally started walking (I should say running) about four weeks ago at 15 months! It took her long enough that now she is catching up for lost time and runs everywhere!
They were both laughing so hard, it was pretty cute!

Birthday Cake and Baby

2007-10-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

Ashley, Madison and I enjoying our delicious chocolate cake that Matt made for us! It was delicious! Well this is old news but before Dan and Ashley had their baby, we were always trying to get Ashley into labor when we were all together. And our birthday celebration was no exception. I was rubbing Ashley's feet, stuffing pineapple down her, but that wasn't enough --tonight we decided to go for a walk. Matt had to study but that wasn't stopping us, we bundled up the girls and headed out for a very long walk. We went through Sea Cliff and up to the stairs on California, all the while doing toe touches and anything else we could think of!
The best news was all of our efforts worked! Dan and Ash called us around three in the morning and they were headed to the hospital!
Sweet baby Calvin! He is such a doll, and Dan and Ashley are the sweetest parents!
I had to throw this one in, ever since Calvin was born (well I guess a little before he was born) Maddie has been obsessed with him. I love my little Maddie!

Happy Birthday

2007-09-28T07:38:00.000-07:00

My darling friend Ashley and I have the same birthday only one year apart! It was so fun to be together this year to celebrate! To start our wonderful day we went to Mama's with Sandee, Katie Green and Christina. It was just as delicious as always and so fun to go without all of our kiddies! After breakfast Sandee, Ashley and I went downtown to get our makeup done at MAC! I will spare the befores, but this was the after shot...this was a little intense for me considering it's a good day if I slapped on my mascara!
Katie and Tate were so sweet to meet us at the mall and hang out while we got our faces done. Sorry about the eyes closed Katie this is the only picture I have...
After the mall, I came home and Matt said we needed to hurry and get changed and that we were going to Cheesecake Factory with Dan and Ashley....I love that place!
Family birthday shot...kind of frightening...
So for mine and Ashley's birthday our husbands got us all tickets to see "So You Think You Can Dance" on tour!!! We are soooo excited!!! When we were at dinner Matt gave me a homemade card and on the front it said "happy birthday" and on the inside was the picture above. I was kind of talking while I opened the card and then I looked at it and got so embarrassed so I quickly showed the card to Ashley and was like "I guess I think I can dance, you know sometimes, depending on the music, look at that picture is that supposed to be me! Look at that big old bum!!!" Then Ashley said " yeah, but so you think you can dance....that's going to be so fun right?" The card was a little confusing at first but now that I get it, I am so excited to go, I can't wait!!! It was such a fun birthday, thank you to my sweet friends and family for everything, you're the best!

Beach Day

2007-09-25T21:20:00.001-07:00

A while back we went to shunemaker (sp?) beach in Sausalito with Sandee and Bethany and their boys. It is this great little beach by the sailboat docks and the water isn't deep, so it's nice and warm! The kids had a blast playing and thanks to me all of the kids got FRIED I thought I had my sunscreen and somehow it didn't make it to the beach! I felt so awful!!
Olivia and Blake eating lots of sand!
Evan, Maddie, and Brock
Burying the kids in sand
Olivia stuffing her face!

I Hate The VMA's!

2007-09-10T21:09:00.000-07:00

Today was a heartbreaker... I was gone all day (which was fabulous!) only to come home to drop my cell phone down the elevator shaft!!!!! Then I recieved the most terrible news ever... Sandee, Katie, Christina and I were planning for weeks to go to see my boyfriend JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE in concert in San Jose and he performed at those stupid VMA's with the likes of Britney Spears and all her hoochieness and has lost his voice!!!! He had to reschedule the concert that is supposed to be Wednesday night to September 23rd and none of us can make it! This horrible news has probably ruined my week... so as of today I HATE the VMA's!!! I will need to get a massage to make up for this one!

Golden Gate Park

2007-09-08T14:17:00.000-07:00

Sandee, Bethany and I took the kids to Golden Gate Park a few weeks ago to play and ride the carousel. The kids had tons of fun playing and riding the carousel. Maddie and Brock were a little nervous at first, but by the second time around they had a ball.
Me and the girls riding the bench on the carousel.
Maddie being so brave!
I thought Maddie and Evan's faces were so cute! After the carousel we went down to the grass and let the kids run through the sprinklers. Maddie did more watching and freaking out for Evan and Brock's lives than playing, but it was still fun!

Belden Place

2007-09-03T08:12:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we went to dinner with Dan and Ashley and their friends from Utah Jason and Ginny. We went to this neat little neighborhood downtown called Belden Place. It is basicallly a row of different restaurants featuring all different types of European food. You can eat outside in the little alley, they have big white lights strung from the buildings like a roof over your head. It was a really charming little place, and we had a lot of fun.
After we ate we walked through the alley and then walked around in china town for a bit. It was so fun to go somewhere new with Dan and Ash, and our new friends Jason and Ginny!

Discovery Museum

2007-08-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

We decided to get year long passes to the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito. It is such a fun place, and Maddie and Olivia both really like it. Here are some pictures from our day.
I love going there because it only takes me ten minutes to get there and it is the perfect half way spot to meet all of our friends who live in San Rafael, plus the weather is usually warmer than the city!

Dance Dance Dance

2007-08-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

So Matt and I have been thinking alot about putting Maddie in some kind of organized activity once or twice a week. We thought about preschools, gymnastics, swim lessons, and dance. We went to a free trial class at this great little dance school near our house and fell in love with it! This is Maddie on our way to the trial class. She is not auditioning for flashdance, she just wanted to wear her leggings and not a leotard but a "comfy" shirt and "soft" jacket. And those are her darling black ballet shoes I bought her that gave her blisters by the time we drove to the school- I returned them just like I do everything else! Maddie had alot of fun and we signed her up for classed through December!

ps Don't mind the "I'm feeling anxious yet still a bit grouchy" pose...we had to cut naps a little bit short.

Family Fun

2007-08-29T20:34:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago my brother Mike and his family were in Walnut Creek for a wedding and we were lucky enough to have them come visit for a few hours. We had so much fun seeing their darling little boy Grant and catching up with Mike and Emily. We went to dinner at Barney's, where Dan and Ashley met up with us, then we all came back to our house to play for a little bit. The girls Ashley, Emily, and me! Obviously this was a while ago because Ashley is still pregnant! I will get caught up on my blogging someday! Thank you Mike and Em, for making time to come see us, we love you guys!!

Just For You

2007-08-14T15:22:00.001-07:00

Since we are sharing about Liz I thought I would add this post for an enhanced vision of just who Liz really is. The answer to your question is Yes! This is my wife Liz circa 1987, she was teaching a family home evening on how we're all different... you can say that again! Liz wore glasses until third or fourth grade when her eyes corrected. And in case you were wondering, yes those are smurf glasses and yes the stem is coming out the bottom of the frame and they are blue on top and red on bottom! Enjoy!

I've Been Tagged

2007-08-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

So I was tagged almost two weeks ago, but here goes...

1. I have always loved to dance and grew up having dance parties for family home evening, and dancing like crazy at all of my siblings wedding receptions, and any time we get together! We love to dance! I would love to take dance classes/lessons someday and learn how to latin dance. I love to watch dance t.v. shows too, and can't wait to someday learn how to do a samba roll-if that's even what it's called!
2. I have always wanted to go to culinary school and hope that when my kids are in school I will! I love kitchen stores and enjoy cooking and trying new recipes....I am the pickiest eater I know but I'm getting better and I don't mind making stuff I might not like.
3. I got married the year after high school, and was pregnant a few months later (not in the plans at first, that's another story). So I was a teenage statistic barefoot and pregnant at 19!
4. I love music and keep a running list of new songs to add to my ipod. I grew up listening to all kinds, funk, hip hop, country, r&b, opera, jazz, you name it. But, I do love my r&b and could probably be found most days in my car with some kind of rap or hip hop playing as we go bumping around from here to there. It was rubbed off on me from my mom who LOVES Usher and even made herself a mix cd when she had to drive to Utah by herself! It has been rubbed off on Maddie and Olivia too, they love to dance while we drive and Maddie currently loves Warren G's regulators.
5. I am deathly afraid of the dark. I DO NOT like scary movies or commercials for them. I tried to like them in middle school and high school, but it didn't work out. If I get up in the middle of the night I will often catapult myself back into bed, while scrambling on top of Matt without any hesitation so the boogey man doesn't pull me under the bed...I hate shadows in my room at night!
6. I am a sucker for crap t.v. and like to watch all the teeny bopper shows. The Bachelor, The Hills, The OC (-rest in peace), So You Think You Can Dance, Ugly Betty, and I love me some good Oprah! Thank goodness for DVR...also huge fan of the food network! Even though it can keep me (and Matt!) up at night I love Dateline too!
7. And finally I love treats! Especially chocolate, you can often find different stashes of some treat or another around my house! I love them almost as much as I LOVE to blog!!! The End.

I tag Kathryn and Sandra - you know who you are, now get to it! I also tag Ashley Henry.

Happy Birthday

2007-08-14T14:03:00.000-07:00

Our baby Olivia turned one on July third. She is the sweetest little thing and always so happy. We had a fun little birthday party for her at the Carpenter's house. I love Family Fun magazine, they have such fun ideas and thanks to their website I found this cake! We love the Olivia the pig books and sometimes refer to Olivia as our little piggy, so this cake was perfection!
Present time! Maddie was a great little helper!
She loved her cake!!!! When Maddie turned one we were expecting her to just dive in but she didn't, we weren't sure what Olivia would do either. She started a little slow but then she really got into it!
Fourth of July! We played all day at the pool next door with some family and friends and then had a bbq at the Carpenter's! We also went to a fireworks show that was too short to be accounted for. We had lots of fun and tons of food! This is a neighbor's enormous dog that Maddie just loves. She would curl up with her, pet her and give her kisses. Maddie is such an animal lover. And that is a HUGE dog who has scared me on more than one occasion, she is great dog and extremely well behaved.

A Few Favorites

2007-08-14T13:44:00.000-07:00

We took Maddie to see the Sugar Cane Train. She and Ashley had fun climbing all over it.More swimming, we started out on the beach but the wind was out of control and when the second umbrella flew up and nearly took my face with it, we moved inland to the pool!
Last day of swimming...we were so sad to go.
The last supper....
Off to the airport! When we got to the gate they were boarding a plane, we looked at our tickets and realized we were supposed to be on that plane! We barely made it! We still don't know how we got that time mixed up!

Cliff Jumping at Black Rock

2007-08-12T15:58:00.000-07:00

This is Matt jumping off. He, John and Jared all jumped off twice!! I wish I would have, but maybe next time.
They survived the jump! Sorry Jared for the silly picture it was the only one I had!

The Blowhole and a Luau

2007-08-12T15:35:00.000-07:00

Matt, Jared and Ray all went on an adventure across the island to go snorkeling and all kinds of exploring. Well, they explored a blowhole too and sad to say the blowhole explored our camera too!!! Poor Matt was standing by to take a picture and got soaked, if you look closely you can see him running off. Luckily we still have all of our pictures!
That night we all went to a Luau, this was the sunset! There had been a fire on the other side of the island so the sky was really cool looking.
Waiting in line to get inside. On our walk down to the Luau we had a little bit of a tought time. I found out about the camera, Olivia's stroller went rolling down a sidewalk hill, we forgot our tickets to get in...and the girls (myself included!) were a little bit grouchy! We tried to cheer up and things just didn't work out, so long story short I took the kids back to our hotel and we ALL went to bed!
Time for bed. The next morning we were cheerful, refreshed and ready to party!

A Little Maui Magic

2007-08-12T15:22:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken on the balcony of our room, pretty nice view I think!!! Thanks to Matt's parents we were able to leave the girls for the evening and go to the best magic show in Maui!! We went with Amy, Jared and John, it was really fun and Matt and I were invited to sit at the front table and participate in the show! It is so funny because I had been saying all day how fun I thought it would be to participate and then they randomely (sp?) chose us! It was a blast, and the host was hilarious!

This was before the show, we loved our yummy drinks....don't mind my face, it looks like a big cherry!
All of us with Warren the magician!

The road to Hana

2007-08-09T09:45:00.000-07:00

We decided since some of us were sunburned to spend the next day out of the sun. We drove the road to Hana. This is an all day drive, around to the other side of the island. It is super windy, and every once in a while you can stop and get out to do one of the hikes or let Maddie take a leak in the various bushes!! (which we did several times!) This first stop we decided to do a little hike, but when we got out we realized there were mosquitos everywhere! We all went into high stress and poor Jared already had like ten bites all over his legs. Lucky for us Ray had a bottle of bug spray. It was so funny we were all trying to use the spray at the same time and it was this little 3 oz. thing. We laughed about it after but it was really funny listening to all of us try to hurry and get that spray on. There were a few bites but we all survived.
The hike was through a bamboo forest, it was really cool at first. When we were about ten minutes in we decided to head back. The trail was difficult to find and the ground was muddy and slippery. We had to walk on slippery rocks across this little creek, I had Olivia strapped to me in the bjorn, but thank goodness John was behind me because I almost lost it and he was there to catch us!
The next trail we stopped at was much better for us. We thought we were going to do the ten minute trail but missed the sign and went on to the thirty minute trail instead. It was amazing, when we got to the top we were facing another mountainside that was covered in bamboo. The trees were swaying back and forth, it looked like liquid or something. The trees looked so dense at first like pine trees, so when they would move so much from side to side, it was really amazing! I have a better picture I will post later.
Heading up the trail. The sound of the trees and waterfalls in the backround were so beautiful.
Cute little Maddie she walked almost the whole time.

Maui Part Two

2007-08-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

Matt's sister Amy made a fantastic breakfast for everyone, we had french toast, scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, juice and anything else you could imagine! It was sooo yummy!
Beach Day! Our second day in Maui we stayed on the beach pretty much all day. Some of us rented snorkle gear, walked down the beach to explore etc. It was so nice to not have anything scheduled, just hanging out together.
The sand was SO hot that the girlies needed to be on a towel or blanket most of the time. Unless they were down by the water. Olivia was so good she would fall asleep in her stroller and then we shaded her with a towel and another stroller. Such a little trooper! It took us about half the morning to get this system figured out but once we did we were all alot happier!
Our hotel, we stayed in condo's at the Whaler Resort. It was perfect we had just enough space for everyone.
The view down the beach from our hotel. The big cliff at the end is called "Black Rock", at the end of the week Matt, John and Jared all jumped off. I wanted to but was too chicken, maybe next time.
That night we all went to Lahaina, this little town about ten minutes down the road. It was really fun to walk around, we went to this Banyan Tree that was so neat. The tree takes up about one square block and as it grows the branches drop down and grow into the ground, so it is one tree with about a million trunks! It was really neat to see and the birds were so loud it felt like we were in the jungle or something! So here we are sitting on one of the branches. We asked a local where to eat and he gave us some good advice, there was this little place that had all different kinds of food. We were all happy!

Maui Part One

2007-08-08T20:38:00.000-07:00

First things first, survive flight, check in, change clothes and EAT!!!! We were all so starving and dying for some real food, so we went to this yummy restaurant right next to our hotel called the Hula grill. It was delicious! It was an outdoor restaurant and the floor was sand, which the kids loved! The best part was the live band, Olivia could not stop dancing and clapping in her high chair! The band fell in love with her, they pointed her out to the crowd and everyone was smiling at her and laughing etc., then the group dedicated a song to Olivia and they sang a lullabye to her! It was very sweet and we all enjoyed it. Especially the plastered lady dancing next to our table like a crazy!!!
Next stop was a quick dip in the pool. The water was like bath water it was soooo warm, especially in the evening for some reason...Maddie had a blast swimming with her aunts and uncles.
Our first sunset in Maui...

Maui here we come!!!

2007-07-24T21:37:00.001-07:00

Our next couple of posts will be of our trip to Maui, we had so much fun and can't believe it has taken us so long to post about this amazing trip!!!! This picture is our girlies on the plane before we took off. The flight was super early so we were all a little tired by the time we got there. I forgot to mention that when we got to the airport Matt was checking in and realized his license was expired then remembered he had a temporary, but his temporary expired two days before this day!!! Poor Matt! He had to go up to a special check in and through extra security. We made it to the gate just in time!
Grandma bought the girls a chocolate muffin to eat on the plane...Olivia was so thrilled she kept laughing and clapping her hands! Just like mom, she loves her treats!
This is us trying to keep the enormous chocolate muffin to as little mess as possible...we weren't very successful! More pictures coming soon.......

Little Artist

2007-07-15T20:38:00.000-07:00

Lately Maddie has been trying to climb into Olivia's crib, I usually can catch her and she will stop for a few days and then it picks back up. We were staying at the Carpenter's and the girls were taking a much needed nap when I could hear them laughing. So, I went in to check on them, this is what I found Maddie was in Olivia's pack n play. That's so cute huh? What's not so cute is that Maddie made her body a canvas for a little art project! She had found some markers earlier that day and I guess put them in a rolling suitcase that she brought into her room for her nap, then she went to work on herself!
She was covered in marker, she even colored all over her stomache and chest too! If you look at her face you can see the markings are in very distinct places, like she was applying makeup!
To top it off, Maddie colored all over grandma's beautiful butterfly sheets! She colored some of the butterflies pretty well, but the rest she just scribbled ALL OVER! We love our Maddie and she certainly keeps us on our toes!

Fathers Day

2007-07-15T13:35:00.000-07:00

This is a little late but, Happy Fathers Day to all the wonderful dad's in our lives! We had a great Fathers Day, we went to our home Ward in Poway. It's always fun to see what people at home are up to. After church we went back to the Carpenter's, took naps and had dinner. Matt requested stromboli for dinner and so we made that, and thank goodness it turned out and everyone liked it! Amy and Jared came over for dinner too and that night we opened gifts with them. All in all it was a very good day, we just love being with family s0 it was perfect!
We were able to go the swim and tennis club near the Carpenter's house almost everyday! Maddie had so much fun and loved using her floaties. She grew to be so independant and would just kick her little legs all over the pool. She never wanted to be held- unless she was jumping to us from the side! We only had one scare, we were getting ready to leave and Matt took off one of Maddies floaties and then turned to put it away and we turned around and she had gone into the spa! Only having on one floatie caused her to kind of spin up and down in the water (the jets were on). I ran over so fast and grabbed her and then I started shaking so bad that I could barely lift her out of the water! Everything was fine and Maddie still jumped back in the pool the next day!
This was taken at La Jolla Cove, we dug a hole for Maddie to sit in and tried to fill it with water. The water wouldn't stay but Maddie had a blast climbing in and out and using all her sand toys. In this picture she was trying to pop out to surprise us!
Maddie and Liz enjoying the sand and sun!
Olivia listening to the peaceful sounds of the ocean! She was such a trooper this whole trip, most pictures of her she is kicking her little legs in her stroller!

San Diego

2007-07-10T21:08:00.000-07:00

So I stayed in Spokane for an extra week while Matt hiked Mt. Shasta with a couple of guys from the Ward. We haven't recieved the pictures yet, but a post will come soon! When we got home from Spokane Matt and I realized we just wanted to go to San Diego, so three days later we loaded up the car and drove down. The girls were great little travelers and slept for at least half the trip! We had a great week relaxing and playing, and getting ready to go to Maui! We decided to have a bon fire at La Jolla shores and make smores and stuff, it was so fun! The picture above is Matt, his brother John, and Amy's husband Jared.
Matt and Jared going surfing, the water was so warm! They were excited to go it was Jared's first time surfing.
Sandy beach babies! Olivia ate so much sand in the three weeks we were home, I couldn't believe it!
Matt's sisters Ashley and Amy with Maddie eating their delicious smores!
Maddie kept asking to have her picture taken in the car on the way home, so we indulged in the moment! Little sweetie! After the beach we went to Amy and Jared's apartment to sit in the hot tub. They have a really nice pool and a really fun hot tub, Maddie had a blast!

The Cabin

2007-06-23T15:52:00.001-07:00

After the wedding we had the opportunity to go and stay at a cabin that my parents friends own. It was near Sandpoint, Idaho at a little ski resort called Schwietzer (sp?). It was the most gorgeous place, and the cabin wasn't bad either! It was the perfect grandparents cabin. There were tons of movies, puzzles, games, the best part for the kids and cause for most fights was the rope swing in the family room! Not kidding, there was this huge log beam across the family room and they had this little swing to tie around the beam, it was so fun! The cabin was amazing complete with a player piano downstairs, two story family room ceilings (which were great for the thunder and lightening storm we had!), beds and for 15 if not more, a waterfall on the side of the cabin, we left the windows open all day to listen to the water run down the mountain, and hot tub on the porch! It was so fun and we were so lucky to visit that beautiful place and hope we can go again before my parents are done with their mission. That picture above is my dad and Olivia snuggling on the couch.
Matthew on the rope swing.
Enjoying the hot tub, it actually started to sprinkle a little bit while we were out there, but we didn't care. It was pretty cold out but the hot tub was really warm so we didn't mind, being surrounded by the fog was neat too! We felt like gorillas in the mist!
This was down in the basement where the player piano was, we found a bunch of Disney songs on the piano and the kids had a blast dancing
A picture of Maddie and I, yay! It isn't the best but I will take what I can get! I forgot to post about the bear cub that my dad and I saw on the side of the rode about a half mile down from the cabin. We were coming home from an early morning run to Wal Mart, when we came around one of the switchbacks, there it was just eating some grass on the side of the rode. We watched it for a while, it was pretty neat, but kind of scary that the bears were so close to where we were. Good thing we didn't take the kids on a morning hike like we had planned!

More Wedding

2007-06-23T15:36:00.000-07:00

During dinner we decided to take a few pictures of the girlies. They looked so cute all dressed up and twinsies!
Maddie eating her major piece of cake! She went to get her own piece of cake and she came back with the biggest one on the table!! She could hardly carry it back to her seat.Olivia playing peek a boo.

The Wedding

2007-06-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

This was right when they walked out. I couldn't get any other good pictures, it was such a hot day and everyone was crowded in the little bit of shade they had. The ceremony was very sweet, Aaron's grandpa came from Idaho to do the Sealing. Jess and Aaron were just darling, she was a gorgeous bride.
My cute little parents!
My mom and Maddie, isn't that sweet? We had the camera out just in time!

Beautiful Bride

2007-06-20T09:51:00.000-07:00

Jess had bridal portraits taken in the mission home. She looked so pretty in her dress and Maddie and Emma were amazed at Jess in her beauiful princess dress. Aaron was downstairs while Jess took pictures, it was a little hard to keep him from peeking!

One more

2007-06-20T09:49:00.000-07:00

I forgot this cute picture of the kids they were being so good, sitting on the stairs waiting for us!

Swimming and Fire Alarms

2007-06-20T09:04:00.000-07:00

My sweet parents put Mel and I and the kids up in a hotel so the Mission home didn't get too crowded with all of the kids and grandkids, and Jess could have a little space before the Wedding. We stayed in connecting rooms at the Best Western. We got in pretty late from the airport and the kids were pretty wired. I turned on the t.v. to help Maddie to fall asleep and help me to stay awake. She was all over the place, she couldn't fall asleep forever because she wanted to lay in my bed, and she was rolling all over trying to get comfortable. It was two in the morning when I realized I had dozed off and Maddie was asleep, but the t.v. was still on. I think we fell asleep sometime around 1:30. To continue this wonderful evening Olivia decided she was ready to get up at 5:00! So I slept for about three hours, with Maddie in my bed rolling all over me trying to snuggle etc. I fed Olivia and hoped she would go back to sleep like she usually does. She opted out of that idea...at 7:00 I called my mom to see if we had a car at the hotel that I could drive the girls around in and maybe Olivia would fall back to sleep. Well we didn't, but my dad said he wanted to come over. I was talking to my dad and telling him that he didn't need to come when I heard a loud buzzing in the hallway. I told my dad to hang on, and I thought there was a fire alarm going off. We laughed for a second --wouldn't that be perfect?! Well, it was a fire Alarm!!! (Not to mention that the night before when I was putting Olivia in her pack n play I wanted to put it next to the door, it was the darkest spot in the room - I had this thought that if there was some reason I needed to leave quickly I wouldn't want to have that pack n play blocking the door!) So I waited in the hallway with some other people, I knocked on Mel's door to tell her what was going on and she said her kids were still asleep and she wasn't coming out. The hotel staff then came charging down the hall banging on everyones doors telling us to get out. I started to panic and started banging on Mel's door with the staff member. Mel woke her three sleeping kids and we all shlupped(sp?) down stairs only to be told it was a false alarm and to go back inside!!!! We were so mad!!! My poor pregnant sister had to wake her sleeping kids! We decided to stay up and eat the free breakfast, and then our dad came in to rescue us and come swimming with the kids! We love grandpa, it is so nice to have my dad help us when our husbands aren't there! Sorry for the long story, this is my journal too! The hotel had a really nice indoor pool with big windows all around. It was so nice to not have to worry about sunscreen or anything. The hotel also had these nice floaters for the kids to sit in. After all of our troubles with Best Western that morning we now loved them again! This picture is Maddie and Brenley my brother Ryan's girl.
Wendy, Thane, Brenley and Matthew.
Brenley's cheeser face! She has the cutest little grin, it kills me every time.
Sweet little Ryan.

Off to Spokane for the Wedding

2007-06-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

My sister Mel and I booked our flights to Spokane so that when her flight from San Diego stopped in Oakland she would switch planes and we would be on the same flight! The kids were so excited to see eachother and even more excited to sit together on the plane. Mel and I put Maddie, Emma and Ryan in the row next to us and Matthew sat behind us. There was a really nice man that sat next to Matthew who we had visited with a little bit before we got on the plane. He was so nice to Matthew and such a good sport sitting next to all of these crazy kids.
Matthew's cheesy grin!
The kids were so cute and so grown up, drinking their soda and juice. They were suprisingly well behaved, I wasn't sure how the flight would go but it wasn't bad at all. The worst part for me was Maddie coloring all over her tray table with crayons! It was totally covered with rainbow swirlies!
My sister Jess and her fiance Aaron picked us up at the airport, we had never met Aaron before so this was really fun. (We had talked to him before but never seen him.) I thought this was so cute, Jess came in to meet us and offered to take the kids out to the car while we got the luggage. It turned out to be a really cute picture moment.

Memorial Day

2007-06-20T08:32:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day was so beautiful! We decided to go on a hike with the Henry's, we walked from the Cliff House down to this look out point where you can see the Golden Gate just perfectly! I think that this little trail has a name - I'm not sure what it is. The walk was really fun and having the girls strapped to us wasn't that bad, by the time we got back to the car though we were starved! We had a barbecue with Dan and Ashley down at Baker Beach, after a little hunting for an open grill we finally found one. The food was delicious and the company was great, such a fun day!

Mothers Day with the Girls

2007-05-30T22:18:00.000-07:00

This was one of the greatest days of my life!!! Katie G, Christina, Sandee, Katie S, and I went to the Nordstrom Spa for a wonderful morning of pampering, followed by lunch and some shopping! This was all thanks to our wonderful husbands, who watched the kids so we could go.
This was the relaxation room where we all waited to start our procedures. We soaked our feet, and snacked on nuts and dried fruit, and had the yummiest water that had lemons and cucumbers in it! Katie G had a pedicure, Christina and Katie S had facials, Sandee had a hot stone massage, and I had a massage. It was all so amazing! It was so fun to go with such good friends....we are such lucky girls!
Katie G and Christina...
We aren't drunk we swear!!! This picture was taken right after our massages, when my massage was over I was so relaxed and my legs felt like jello, I had no idea where I was going! I found Sandee in the relaxation room and we were cracking up at each other! Our hair was insane and we were soooo relaxed, it was so great!
Another post treatment picture, we all look like we just woke up, I love it!! Katie S got out of her facial before any of us were done and so she was already changing when we took this picture, we didn't know that and so we were all waiting in the relaxation room for her! This was such a great adventure with great friends, thank you to my wonderful husband for my fantastic mothers day. I am one lucky girl.

Golden Gate Bridge

2007-05-29T22:27:00.000-07:00

We finally did it! We walked across the golden gate bridge! It was the most beautiful day outside, warm and sunny which made for perfect walking weather. We walked across with Dan and Ashley Henry, they are so patient to walk with us especially when we have to stop periodically to help the girls. As you can see they wanted to walk too! They were actually such good little troopers, poor Maddie wanted to get out and walk sooo bad. I think I might have had a panic attack! We did let her get out and look down at the water a few times though, it's no fun being strapped into your stroller all the time!
Sweet little Olivia, she just loves being outside!
It was a longer walk than we all thought it would be and I think we were all pretty tired and hungry when it was over, but that didn't stop us from driving up to the outlets in Vacaville! We had a short pit stop in San Rafael for lunch and a quick browse at the REI sale. We met up with Jen and Ben Lowry from our ward at the outlets and we all shopped until we dropped (and the stores closed!). Needless to say it was a very long, full day, but we had so much fun we can't wait to do it again!

Dress ups

2007-05-29T21:44:00.000-07:00

About a week or two ago we were having a morning at home and Maddie was playing in her room. She came to me and asked if I would help her put on her "princess booty" (sleeping beauty) dress and her sunglasses. A few minutes later she came in with her pilot wings she got the last time we flew Southwest, she wanted to wear them. I tried to put them on her dress but she wouldn't have it she wanted to wear them as a mustache!!! She is so funny, she kept those babies on for as long as they would stick!
In case the first picture wasn't enough!!! Classic Maddie stance! I'm not sure she has ever seen a mustache before, so we aren't sure where she came up with this one!

Fountain Fun

2007-05-29T21:23:00.000-07:00

Maddie and Brock playing in the fountain. These little "city kids" are impossible to keep out of any public fountain!
Cute little Maddie, her hair is just long enough for pig tails again...I love it!
Blake and Olivia taking it all in. I can hardly wait until Maddie and Olivia can run around and play together outside.