Elli turns 3!

When we asked Elli what she wanted for her birthday she said she wanted to go to "Build a Bear". Nate was in town so that is exactly what we did. I love the look on her face as she is creating her Hello Kitty.

My mom got her a pulsar car for her birthday so we got the helmet to go with it.

We had to cancel her birthday party with Landon because she had the stomach flu the day before. We did our own little version of a birthday so we woudn't contaminate the rest of the family.

A week after their birthdays we celebrated with a fun party. We did Cafe Rio Salad, cake and ice cream. We had a pinata, did some swimming, played pin the tale on the racoon and just had a great time.

The birthday kiddos, Elli and Landon!

My little Helpers!

My mom keeps a very clean house. I'm sure we rocked her world when we moved in and brought messes and craziness. She cleans her house every Monday and Elli LOVED to help her every week. I love how my mom always included Elli on everything.

I love the glove action! She is scrubbing away.

Brinlyn loved and STILL loves, to help by standing on the dishwasher. What a helper!

7/12/10

All in a day...

Brinlyn decided to help herself to a little snack of goldfish crackers. She figured it would be easier if she just dumped them out and ate off the floor.

At this point she is more just playing with them, not so much eating them.

She loves to take things out of places they belong or maybe she just likes to make messes. Here she has climbed into the cupboard under the bathroom sink. She sure keeps me busy! 7/24/10

So cute!

I LOVE it when the girls are playing together, hugging each other, being nice to each other, whatever it is that they do nicely together. It just makes me so happy when they are happy. Sometimes Elli gets bugged by Brinlyn and then they end up fighting..even at such a young age. Gotta love the sibling love. :)

My mom is SO good at taking time to play with the grandkids. When we were living with my parents she took time out of her day, EVERY day to just play. She wouldn't let herself get distracted by anything else and just used the time to do whatever Elli wanted to do. I love the creativity that was always involved. I think my mom was playing with Elli that this was a dog house. 7/31/10

Brinlyn loves to climb onto or into ANYTHING. She is our little monkey crazy girl.

Our bestest friends, Bailey and Erin came over for a swim one of the last few days we were in Arizona. I loved that the girls had matching swimsuits and couldn't pass up the opportunity for a picture. We miss our friends but hopefully we will see them soon! 8/6/10

Everyone's in Town

Grandma and Grandpa with all their grandkids...definitely something rare, especially these days with us all so spread out.

Cute cousin picture with all the older cousins. Colby, Landon, Avery, Maia, Hunter, Carter and Elli.

Meghan with precious little Eva show was three months old. This picture was taken just before her baby blessing. She is such a sweet little baby.

All my family was together for a quick weekend in August when my dad was called to be Bishop. It was a special day and a blessing for us all to be together. These pictures were taken August 8. The only person missing was Nate. It was so fun to spend some time together with everyone even though it was quick. We love you guys!

Washington DC Trip

I'm not huge into the historical stuff, but we had to get a few pictures of what we saw.

The lovely white house of which holds our lovely president.

Washington DC Temple

This temple is one of the most beautiful, striking temples I've ever seen. It was such a special part of the Washington DC experience.

I LOVE this picture! Brinlyn was just holding onto my dads finger as we walked along. I love the look on both my parent's faces. So sweet.

Gorgeous! 8/15/10

Graduation!

Oh and the day we were all waiting for...Graduation! Yippee! Doesn't Nate and his dad look SO much alike?!? It was fun to have my parents and Nate's dad out for the graduation. Elli stayed back in AZ with grandma Karen...Thanks Karen! We survived the five months without Nate and boy are we glad that is done!

Cousins...

Elli just loves her cousins. I loved this picture of her with Annie. Something really funny...Elli has a picture of Annie that she carries around sometimes. I find it in her purses or toy bins and it just kind of circulates places. The last few nights I have noticed it is under her pillow. She she loves Annie.

Elli loves Hunter, Landon and Jade. Heather's kids are sure cuties. We sure miss all those kiddos. 8/22/10

Our first stop...

The girls never complained about only having two small boxes of toys and they managed to spread them everywhere, everyday! When we first arrived to Hawaii we didn't have a permanent home, so we lived in a fully furnished house until we found a more permanent place. It was the perfect set up but we definitely experienced some cabin fever. We went somewhere everyday just to give us something to do. The girls were troopers! Brin looks kind of funny in this picture but it was the only one I took of the messes they would make.

Elli getting excited as she is playing with playdough and silverware. She has quite the imagination so who knows what she was making up in this picture. As I am on this topic, she has come up with an imaginary friend that she talks about ALL the time. She refers to her as, "Golly" and she does everything with us. :)

Brinlyn hamming it up for the camera! This girl of mine has been a challenge since she was born but I think has finally turned the corner. I love this little stinker like crazy. Who wouldn't love those cute little cheeks?!? 8/31/10

Moon Hike

A group of us girls and our kids braved a "moon" hike while our husbands were out of town. It was a lot of fun and absolutely gorgeous! Here are the kids posing for the camera, minus Andrew and Brinlyn.

The moon is just a pin dot in this picture but the view and all the surroundings were just awesome. I wish I did some video of it all. 9/22/10

Diamond Head

Nate gets the award for this hike! He hiked a lot of it carrying both girls which was crazy. Most people passing by had to stop and make a comment. :)

One of my best friends came from Norway with her husband for Jens wedding. We were so lucky to have them stay with us for a few days. We had a blast and loved being able to catch up and do some fun things. I miss Crystal and Jen so it was such a treat! Thanks for coming all this way and staying with us, Crystal and Jon! It will probably be a long time before we are all together again. I am sure glad Jen got married here. :) 9/24/10

One of my best friend's weddings...

One of my best friends had a destination wedding and lucky for us we were able to attend! It was a beautiful wedding on a private beach. We had a great night. Thanks Jen for all the yummy food and such a good time. Thanks for letting us bring our crazy kids too. :) I think there were only five kids at the wedding and two of them were mine. Yikes! Jen was a gorgeous bride. I LOVED her dress, which I never got any pictures of. :(

Our crazy little kiddos just exploring the place after the wedding ceremony. Brinlyn wants to be as big as Elli and pretty much tries to do everything.

Jen and Kevin getting married. I always post pictures in the wrong order. 9/25/10