The Robison Family

2011-07-03T14:18:00.000-07:00

Sigfried and Roy's Secret Garden, Serendipity and other Vegas Attractions

2011-02-23T19:46:00.000-08:00

The Bellagio fountain's was Abigail's favorite attraction. We were able to see it a few times while there. She said it was all so "magical."

The girls first frozen cocoa at Serendipity3 outside of Caesars Palace, they looved it! They especially loved the very girly atmosphere of the cafe and felt very special and ordered a hot dog that was at least 2 feet long. I had the Full Monty sandwich and I must say, it was sinfully delicious. :D

They spent the most time observing the dolphins at Sigfried's playing games with them at the window and even named them Tutu and Pluper...they were so giggly that I just sat back and let them have fun.

Viva Las Vegas...

2011-02-23T15:32:00.000-08:00

Several weeks ago, we decided to accompany Bart on one of his business trips to Las Vegas. While daddy was in a conference room all day long the girls and I decided to see what this city had to offer and boy who would have thought of all the interesting things we would see on a single street! The entire time, Abigail kept saying, "oh wow, Mom, I love Las Vegas, look at that and look over there and Mom, I think I want to live here."

Our first stop upon arriving in Vegas was to the Bellagio garden. Wow, what a breath of fresh air, quite literally as the garden's fragrance was intoxicating and rejuvenating after coming from the dreary ice and dirt in Salt Lake. The garden's theme was in celebration of Chinese New Year, this is the year of the Rabbit and not only could I not get over the giant Rabbit made from grass, but the statues and the river were all just spectacular. The pictures above hardly do justice to the grandeur of the garden inside the lobby of the hotel. Of course, Abigail showed as much enthusiasm in the bathrooms of this hotel as she did in the gardens. According to her the bathroom was fit for a princess...yes 3 of them.

I'm baaaaack!

2011-02-20T20:24:00.000-08:00

Last post, October of 2009, that was the day my laptop quit on me. And from that point until last week, we did not have a home computer. But, yes, last week Valentine's day the hubby surprised me with as he said, "fruit." He bought me an apple. I am thrilled to be starting up my blog again and learning to work my new computer. And, to blog surf once again. Cheers to you husband for bringing us out of obscurity.

2009-10-08T15:45:00.001-07:00

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Summer Birthday Number 1

2009-08-23T20:07:00.000-07:00

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Our little family has summer birthday's, and Miss Abigail is so proud that it is her birthday that kicks off the summer celebrations. This year she was talking about it for at least six months on what she wanted to do and how she was going to have a party and what kind of party she would like. This year she decided to take a few of her good friends and little sister, to Build-A-Bear Workshop, where to her wonderful suprize a pink unicorn was waiting there for her her to build. She had been asking for a pink unicorn for months, so if you could imagine my delight when I saw it there as well!!! She outfitted Princess Pink with fluffy white wings and magic glass slippers and has been a playmate pal for the entire summer, and thanks to Grandma and Grandpa has expanded her wardrobe and rests her princess head in a satin pink bed. She had so much fun at her bear party and I believe it will be a memory for life.

We also had a family party for her, which was quite exciting as well. She collects the Our Generation Dolls and Muga and Papa gave her a vanity for her doll to primp herself, which both girls have been enjoying this summer and aunt Carly added to the collection with a pink bathtub. I love the Our Generation Dolls, any of you with girls have to check them out at Target! She thought getting money from aunt Julia and uncle Dustin was the "coolest thing evvvver" and went to the toy store and picked out a game she has been eyeing. And her fascination with horses capped by an adorable outfit her cousins gave her, which she too wore most of the summer.

She had a very Happy Birthday, and is now planning for next year...oh what will it be like when she gets engaged? I love my little Abigail and the joy she brings to our home, here's to a great year my little love!

China Town

2009-07-27T16:53:00.001-07:00

So far, the only picture I have from China Town, it was incredibly CRAZY place to visit. We stopped on Canal Street, and for those of you who know NY you know what we were after ;) We were hounded and bombarded and wow...but we came away with black bags full of goodies. Carly was able to get a picture of everything. It was quite extraordinary. I especially loved going through false walls to look at purses. I came away with a darling pink Gucci bag, matching wallet, a pink face Rolex and two pink china doll outfits for the girls. It was fun, afterward we took a cab back to the hotel and dropped off our things and went to a pizza place for lunch, it was a beautiful building that had once been a church, I think Katie got pictures of it. We then went back to get ready for Mary Poppins, which was the neatest play. The music was great, but the scenery and props were AMAZING! Afterwards, it was to the hard rock for dinner for fabulous and burger and shake.

City Tour

2009-07-25T18:18:00.001-07:00

My aunt Linda lives in Albany and was able to take the train into the city to enjoy the day of sightseeing and fun food. We picked her up at Penn Station bight and early and walked to the Empire State building, we then went on a boat tour around the entire island oohing and ahhing over the terrific sights. After the tour we went to see the Manhattan, LDS temple and another walk through central park. After a refueling stop at Serendipity for frozen hot chocolate and an interesting pizza joint, with a bathroom for hobbits only and no electricity we went shopping and more sightseeing until the sun went down and back to Penn Station. We took cheesecake back to our room for dinner, we are on vacation after all. :D

My mom and aunt ready to tackle the desserts after working up quite an apatite from all that walking! I personally love frozen hot chocolate and this was...serendipitous!

Grand Central Station, a neat stop on our city tour.

The Empire State building hiding behind the fog, just outside of Penn Station.

On the Pier just after our boat tour.

look carefully, can you see what is reflected in Katie's sunglasses?

Giant Chocolate Rabbit and Dylan's Candy Shop, we had a great time looking at all the nostalgic candy. I walked away with mini candy bars with every combination thinkable.

The temple was constructed from an already existing building, we stopped at the small farmers market across the street where I bought Bart some maple syrup and almost bought an apple donut, until I saw the price tag.

Central Park

2009-07-21T20:13:00.000-07:00

Check out those sandwiches...lol!

Central Park was breathtaking. We walked through the park after visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The greenery, the flowers, the distant sound of musicians and the artists selling their wares was just part of overall experience of this sanctuary in the city. Now one of my favorite places on earth. Maybe I will retire to a penthouse across the street from central park...oh now that would be the life!! : D

We stopped at the famous Carnegie deli, which was where we had the largest sandwiches on earth! And paid the price too..eek $22 for a sandwich and they only accepted cash. My advice, stop at the deli for the experience, and split one sandwich for 4 people. It was lots of fun, when the sandwiches came out we all literally gasped at the enormity and the people sitting next to us asked if they could take a picture of Carly and my Mom's sandwiches, mine and Katie's weren't that impressive.

2009-07-02T16:14:00.001-07:00

Simply Wicked

2009-07-02T14:20:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite part of the trip was seeing "Wicked" it was an incredible production with music that inspires the soul. During my favorite song, Defying Gravity I began to tear. All the emotions and excitement of where I was: On Broadway, in New York City and who I was with: My mom and sisters, on our first ever girls only trip came spilling from my eyes and raised me to my feet in applause.

After the show we packed up all our goodies and hopped in a rigshaw. Which was like riding a ride in Disney World. We were going so fast down the streets and weaving in and out of the cabbies. I couldn't contain my laughter as we could hear my mom squealing in the rigshaw ahead of us. I also couldn't help but close my eyes and grab my sisters arm, at several instances, as I thought for sure we were near death's door. It was incredible.

City of Lights

2009-06-28T14:45:00.001-07:00

I was the first to arrive in New York the evening of May 6,2009. I ventured into the city and was aghast and the enormity of it all. The buildings were so high they nearly blocked out the sun and the lights, oh the lights. As the sun began to set the sky turned a familiar shade of orange, yet the brightness of Times Square would not be dimmed. I know that I looked like a tourist because I couldn't keep my eyes from looking upward and a dopey smile on my face. Friends told me that New York City was Disneyland for adults and at this moment I understood their meaning as I felt giddy and wonderment and a sense of adventure. I stopped at a sidewalk café and enjoyed a Panini while watching the people hurry on by and watched dancers rehearsing in the building windows across the street.

The next morning was our sight seeing morning/shopping day. We took a walking tour of the city and visited all our favorite stores buying our goodies and remembrances.
Our celebrity sighting for that day was Niel Patrick Harris, the show "How I Met Your Mother" and "Doogie Howser." My sister Katie was absolutely giddy with delight as she captured his image, being a fan of his.

We dined at the scrumptious Bubba Gump Shrimp company right on time square. We just escaped the rain as we ordered our fantastic seafood and enjoyed laughing, talking all while having a birds eye view of Times Square.

Rockefeller Center, just another enjoyment of NYC. Sometimes it felt as if I had been there before, since these images are in most movies and television programming.

Had to get my picture with Elmo for Annalyn.

Blogworthy

2009-05-15T17:04:00.000-07:00

Needless to say I have not been keeping up on my blog, I have skipped months and months(life just gets in the way doesn't it) so I am going to try to start again. So, for those of you who haven't given up on me and are still reading I will give the latest update.

I returned from New York this week after a very satisfying women only trip with my mom and sisters. This trip has been in the planning for months and months. Back in September I called my sisters and asked them if they would like to plan a trip to NYC for our mom's 50th birthday. They were immediately on board and the months of secret planning and saving began. This was all to be a surprise for my mom on her birthday this March. The week before her birthday we decided to give her a gift, since my grandparents were going with my parents on a cruise...for her birthday. We all got on the web cam and gave her gift, 4 tickets to "Wicked the Musical" after she opened the Tickets my sisters started to play the song "New York New York" and we were all singing along. My mom just kept looking at my sisters then back at the computer. We all started singing; "da da duna na da da duna na, start spreading the news...we're leaving in may...to NEW YORK NEW YORK" at which point my mom began to scream and jumping up and down. My sister got it all on film...I have to get it and post it because it is the ultimate "surprise revealed" moment.

We had an incredible trip full of scary moments, happy moments, laughing moments,shopping moments, inspiring moments, shocking moments, embarrassing moments, delicious moments and tearful moments. My aunt who lives in Albany took the train down to meet us as well all day Saturday. IT was a great trip. Stay tuned more in depth to come.

My New Theme Song....LAUGH YOUR HEAD OFF!!

2009-04-06T16:58:00.000-07:00

A Little Annalyn

2009-03-19T15:00:00.000-07:00

I wanted to take a little time to tell a few things about our little Annalyn. She is growing so quickly and she is so funny. We have had a milestone with her as well. At the beginning of January she was pretty sick with a stomach bug and the day after she had gotten over the messy stuff she brought me a pair of Abigail's panties and said "Mom, no diaper, panies" I wasn't planning on starting her for another couple months but figured she was telling me, so it had to be done. I have never liked potty training, I tend to get a little anxious and easily frustrated. But, I am so glad that it is over with and now I don't have to worry this summer...woohoo.

She is talking more and more and has a little sense of humor that has sent us all into side splitting laughter. She is so calm and mild mannered that when she says something she knows will get a laugh it makes it all the more funny. One of the things she likes to do is when we try to blame her for something or talk about her she says this phrase that is so hard to describe in words: She raises both her eyebrows and puts her hand over her heart and raises her voice a decibel higher and says "Huh? Mmmmmeeee, Annalyn?" Then lowers her voice really low and says "Nooooo."

Lately when she sees things she is scared of she covers her ears. I laugh so hard because she is still seeing the scary mascot at Red Robin, and the darn thing doesn't talk so why the ears, I have no idea.

My favorite words she says: Slippies for Slippers and Lippies for Lipstick

We also like to sing a few songs with her and make her finish it. Abigail: "I like to move it move it, she likes to move it move it, we like to...." Annalyn "MOOD IT"

Some of the words she says sounds like she has a British accent: Daddy, hurt, room, foot, pillow and occasionally a new one.

She loves to dance while she is watching dancing with the stars and plays a "wii game" with Abigail that makes us laugh so hard (we don't have a wii, they mimic what they have seen, I have got to get it on video to get the idea).

She also, with out fail, whenever you pick her up she goes immediately goes for the ear lobes and pinches them as hard as she can and laughs like the Porky Pig cartoon character! We have to get that on video too. It started when she would do it to the dog and we would laugh and laugh and then she only did it to me, every time I held her and then Bart and Abigail wanted to get in on the action so they asked her to get their ears.

She also loves to point out in picture books animals and characters and say which one is Mommy, which one is Abigail and which one is "Me, Annalyn" and she laughs and laughs. It takes us twice as long to read books because she has to tell us who's who. But now she has moved on to real people. The other night we went to a Multicultural Night at Abigail's school and they had a couple of little Irish dancers and the entire performance she would yell, "yeah, Annalyn and Abi, Momma look me Annalyn and Abi, yeah" and would clap so hard and then get even more excited when they would come out again. Then at one point the director of the dances asked if there were any questions and Annalyn popped her hand up and she pointed and said "yes" at first I didn't realize she was pointing to us and then the director said to me, "does she have a question?" I told her no that she just really likes the performance.

That is another thing. Annalyn always is mistaken for being older than she is. I think it's because she is as tall as most three year olds and has hair of most 4 year olds.

Ahh she is so cute.

I love you My Annalyn

Flashback: First Day of School

2009-02-16T09:01:00.000-08:00

I know that I haven't been the best blogger and keeping everything updated. But here is another flashback for that infamouse first day of school.

I think I was more excited about the first day of school than Abigail. I bought her a couple new outfits and new backpack. We had met her teacher a couple weeks earlier during the testing period and had been to the school for a back to school BBQ, so we knew where to go. We got there a little early and played on the playground and chatted with some of our neighbors and met a few new people. Abigail was excited about wearing her new bumblebee shirt, pink converse high tops and wanted her hair curled (with no bows...mom) . With Daddy and Annalyn in tow we made this a family event and were glad to see we were not the only family with an armload of camera's. She gladly went inside when the bell rang and we saw her make her way to her locker with a wave.

As I walked away from her class I was teary eyed and had to fan my face to keep the tears from streaming. It was a moment of pride as well as worry. Annalyn had her backpack on and was still yelling "bye Abi, bye Abi" long after the door had closed. The following days, she would cry every time we would leave Abigail, but Abigail would always give her a reassuring hug and tell she would be home soon. Growing up, I guess is hard on everyone, except for the one doing the growing. To them, it's an adventure.

Annalyn was making sure that the playground was suitable for her big sister.

Flashback

2009-02-15T15:58:00.001-08:00

So I was playing on Bart's laptop while mine was being occupied by a 5 year old and her quest to play as many games on PBS kids before it went away for another week. Anyway, I decided to snoop, I mean browse his photos and I came across an entire folder of Abigail's preschool graduation. This is what I remember from that day last May....

The teacher had Scales and Tails come for the kids. Shane and his reptiles came last year so we knew we were in for a real treat. He brought out all the favorites and even let the kids less than 30 pounds ride the turtle. We had it at a park close by and Bart met us and we had a lovely picnic, awards and graduation cake and then playground play after the festivities.
Check out the size of that turtle!

Annalyn wasn't sure about those animals and stayed safely in daddy's lap....most of the time.

Cute little girl, this is before she had glasses.

This is Abigail and her best friend Elise, the were like peas and carrots the entire year and well into the summer. The moved shortly thereafter.

This is Miss Michelle having the python wrapped around her, all I could think was, "Eww Eww Eww...not for a million dollars (well maybe a million)."

Annalyn warmed up to the animals and even got her shy sister to pet one as well. Last year Abigail had NOTHING to do with the animals. If you go to the blog archive you could find the picture where she was a safe distance from all animals.

Abigail had many teachers so here they all go: This is Miss Jessica, The Teacher

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This is Miss Cies: co-teacher

Miss Michelle: A co-teacher

Miss Martha: She was the speech specialist

Miss Amber: co-teacher

The Adventures of Kimberly

2009-02-14T12:53:00.000-08:00

After our excursion to the Rhine Valley, it was time for Bart to go to work. His company was showcasing at the Innotrans conference, which meant I was left to explore Berlin by myself. I was so excited, I couldn't remember the last time I got to be on my own and do whatever I wanted to do. So, of course I went to the museums. My days were like a dream. I would wake up and go to the hotel lounge and have breakfast with Bart. I would go back up to the room to finish getting ready for the day (since the museums didn't open until ten). I would then tackle a museum and take my time. I would spend most of my day there. My first museum was the history museum and it was by far my favorite and I stayed there marveling at the rich history of this country, learning things I never was taught in school. It was especially interesting to see the sections during the first and second world war, the German perspective on what was happening. The propaganda posters and letters from soldiers, it was all so fascinating. I was literally the last one out of the museum. I had a row of guards walking right behind me and then locking the doors as I crossed the threshold. I could have stayed for another hour....at least!

After spending the day at the museums, I would find something to eat and it just happened to be the same thing every day. I was hooked the first day I tried it. It was a currywurst from a stand on the street. It is a brawt with ketchup and curry, the would serve it with a hard roll and Coke. I would eat standing at a tall table with other tourist and feed the birds part of my roll. I would then walk back to the hotel stopping to get a pastry roll for later or a heavenly ice cream cone. (sadly, there is no other ice cream as wonderful as the ice cream in Germany!). I would then take a nap (yes a nap)on my freshly made bed (Bart and I had our own twin bed, in both hotels...curious huh) until Bart got home. We would then freshen up and go to dinner with his co workers or we did go out by ourselves a couple nights too. We would talk and laugh and have a good three hour dinner. One night it took an hour just to walk to the restaurant a co worker had recommended. It was a Tai restaurant and it was fantastic! I loved my coconut milk with shrimp soup.

The Pergamon Museum. The line to this museum stretched down the stairs and down the river. I arrived the minute it opened and thankfully didn't have to wait in any lines. The museum featured western Asiatic antiquity and their showcase exhibit was ancient Babylon. I was astounded at the artifacts, though few, that were preserved from the city of Babylon, I was seeing artifacts that were recovered after seventeen years of excavation from 3000 BC. The museum was quite crowded and you had to squeeze you way up to the cases. It was awfully hot and I was thankful I had checked my jacket. Part of the Babylon display was many modern artworks depicting the corruption of ancient Babylon. Though some fascinating: like a wall full of letters- a letter a man started in his native language of French and then sent it to another highly educated linguistic to translate from french into his native tongue and so on and so forth throughout the world until it cam back to the man and it did not even mimic/translate into anything resembling the original letter. It was to show the confounding of languages brought on by God in the biblical times. And there was a dictionary a man had created to start a universal language back in the late 1800s but obviously his language didn't catch on. But then there were the highly unusual pieces of art as well. Not sure if a blog is the right place to describe them. :D

All that remains of the Berlin Palace after the wars.

The Pergamon Alter

Actor in the Family?

2009-01-17T13:48:00.000-08:00

RiderNet 3 by EuroTech from Dominic Fratto.

Braunfels

2008-12-12T18:18:00.000-08:00

This was the only castle that was not perched upon a mountain top, one of the largest we had seen and the only one we missed the final tour (by 3 minutes). We did however get to walk around the grounds and behold its majesty as well as take a tour through the family museum with fascinating memorabilia from the castles historic residents. All the treasures were kept in a humidified controlled wing of the castle, with only one entrance and one exit. After quite a bit of coaxing I headed through the narrow entrance and going through a floor to ceiling barred turnstile, (That my purse got stuck in...gasp) I anxiously made my way through the museum. I slight case of claustrophobia sent me through the museum rather quickly, much to the annoyance of Bart. I just kept thinking; "if there were a fire we would surely die", and I seemed to notice the thick windows guarded by thick iron bars more than the priceless gems that lay at my feet. After awhile I calmed down and pulled on Bart's sleeve less often. My favorite pieces; coins-dating back to the turn of the century, the fine china-located in an entirely different room with only long windows to view the dainty art. And lastly the clothing, such beautiful material and preserved so well. Bart found a treasure that hit close to home. A map, of the new settlement of Braunfels in the United States; New Braunfels, Texas. The girls and I had visited Braunfels a few months earlier with my parents and so it was very interesting to see it hanging in a museum in Germany.

After escaping, I mean exiting the museum. We walked around the grounds, which is the town as well, it was so interesting to see the town so close to the castle. It was the most beautiful and charming town. A town you see in movies, or on post cards. They had little tea rooms surrounding the square and that is where we headed, but alas everything closes at 6:00. And we missed a quite dinner as well. We did manage to make it into one shop before it closed and purchased a coffee table book about the town and a few postcards. We were on the road again headed to Berlin. Sadly, we had dinner at an off the rode drive-thru McDonalds. Lucky for us "McNuggets" is a universal language, however, debit card is not...don't Germans know that cash isn't needed any more?

The above picture has to be my favorite, we were walking down from the castle and the entire village was closing/closed (too early if you ask me, it was only 6:00) but I had my eye on a gift shop and Bart tapped me on the shoulder and asked for the camera. Love it hon!

Could I bring one of these home? It could come in very handy.

Touring The Rhine River Valley

2008-11-23T15:20:00.000-08:00

The Rhine Valley had the most beautiful countryside and was completely worth the 6 hour drive in the car. It seems that most of our conversations consisted of the phrases, "oh wow, look at that," "isn't it amazing," "stop the car I have to take a picture" and "we have to bring our girls here." We even took a drive through the forest that supposedly was the setting for the book Hansel and Gretel.

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Vineyards dotted the hillside. At one meal we had a grape as a garnish and Bart and I had to agree that we obviously had never tasted grapes before because this was a piece of divinity.

Schloss Marksburg

2008-11-23T14:44:00.000-08:00

They called this the medieval garden, which holds some very rare plants. Medieval Gardens were rich with herbs instead of flowers.

This picture is out of order. After our tour we went to the dining hall they have in the castle overlooking the valley below. We could not read a thing on the menu, but a kind caretaker came to our rescue and interpreted it for us. We did however recognize Coca Cola, now 4.50 Euro!

A history of armor worn by the many occupants of this castle

Secret staircase behind the bed chamber to a private chapel with a toilet anti-chamber that was too dark to take a picture of.

This is the kitchen table in the great hall, you can rent this room out and have your own Medieval Times Party.

Stepping inside Schloss Marksburg is stepping into the Medieval Times. This castle was believed to be built in the 12th century. Situated on a steep conical mountain, the Marksburg is the only high castle on the Middle Rhine river never to be destroyed. What fun to take a tour of this castle, we followed a guide through, but had to read a brochure printed in English while she spoke German, I know we missed out because several times the tour group laughed and well the written brochure was not that funny. She did tell us one thing in English, while in the torture room that they would put women in the stocks and throw food at them as a punishment for talking too much. :D The landscape was absolutely breathtaking and you really felt like you were in a dream and on top of the world.

Enchanted

2008-11-21T13:39:00.001-08:00

Schloss Stolzenfels

Castles dot the mountain side all along the river and so a few of them we actually drove up to explore and tour. The yellow castle was so unique, and so we drove up the mountain to go through it. When we parked we took the picture and then heard German shouts from the castle window. We used one of our three phrases and said we didn't speak German and the man said, "So what, its the same sign in England, you are not suppose to drive up here and besides were closed on Monday." We just said sorry and left. But since we weren't British we had no idea that a white circle outlined in red means no cars...but now we do. :b silly Americans. This wasn't the first nor the last of our silly American ways. I set an alarm off in the hotel, because I couldn't read the signs. The second castle was right by the hotel, and you could drive up to that one and walk around the grounds which was really neat because you could see for miles.

The Rhine Valley

2008-11-21T13:22:00.000-08:00

We decided to take a little side trip to East Germany. We drove on the Auto Bahn, which Bart was pretty excited about. I believe we got the car up to 180km which is about 118 mph. I just closed my eyes . We spent about six hours in the car, but took in the beautiful German countryside. We stayed in the most beautiful hotel right on the Rhine Valley in the city of Koblenz. Our room overlooked the river, and the picture above is the view from our room. The windows were huge and you could open the windows and lean out the window and see up and down the river. This was taken just before the sun came up and everything was so quite and there was a light fog it really seemed like I had stepped into a postcard. I just stood there at the window taking it all in and imprinting it into my memory. The Rhine Valley is known for the castles and vineyards and that was what I was really excited about.

Tour of Berlin

2008-11-16T14:45:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Berlin mid morning, checked our baggage at the hotel and then went for a tour of Berlin. We were both so excited to be there it was hardly noticeable we hadn't slept for 24 hours. We walked toward the river where we had seen ferry boats loaded with people. Paid a fare and began our tour of Berlin. The air was chilled but very pleasant and my mind was racing at the beauty of the city and that reality was I was here partaking of historic Berlin. This city is amazing in its quality and richness of its history. It has some of the neatest architecture I have ever beheld. The new modern juxtaposed to the old was absolutely breathtaking and I couldn't take enough pictures.

We stopped at the local merchant market and perused the tents full of antiques, original art and souvenirs. We made our first purchases at the market. An original painting of a local artist depicting the German countryside and a couple Christmas gifts, a hat for Bart's collection and a scarf for me. Everyone was wearing scarves and it was quite cold in the evenings so I decided to follow the locals and buy a scarf. It took me a few days though to figure out the special knot the women used.

We were exhausted by the end of the day and headed back to the hotel to check in. We cleaned up and then took to the streets again, this time in search of food. There was just so much to see that our stomachs were long forgotten. We walked around Alexander Platz, the plaza where our hotel was and nothing caught our eye mostly because we could not read anything. We headed back to the hotel restaurant figuring it would be our safest bet for English translation. Wrong. But it was a buffet, so at least we could see everything we were eating. Everything tasted great. We never once had a bad meal in Germany!

Bart and I stopped and stared at this building for quite awhile. "So are those bullet holes" I asked....Yes they were.

The main Deutsche Bahn station: Bart's object of affection
He was amazed at the transpiration system and talked about it non stop.

The government buildings. The dome is glass with a moving sidewalk for tourist to walk to the top. Hours of waiting in line were required for this site.

The ruins here are of the old Berlin Palace that was destroyed during the war,

The large tower is Berlin landmark, it has a rotating café for a bird's eye view of Berlin. Our hotel, The Plaza is the tallest building in Berlin, you can see it in the background.

Where We Have Been

2008-10-10T16:10:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I have updated and there is so much I have to post. But here is a little sneak peek on what we have been up to.

More Garner Pictures

2008-09-15T14:55:00.000-07:00

My sister sent me her pictures from Garner, this is just some of the 172 pictures she took.

Uncle Ben with some after dinner entertainment

Sweet Abigail

This was Abigail's first try off the rope swing, that looks like it hurt!

Getting Ready to go

This is the cutest picture of Annalyn! My mom gave everyone sailor hats for our days on the river.

This picture was on the smaller swing, but she was doing these tricks on the big swing after she became a pro. :D

It's good to have an aunt who is a massage therapist after a long day of play and death defying stunts.

Bart is so goofy. His prized purchase on the trip was his goggles, because he could see everything.

Look out baby's got the squirt-gun!

Enjoy being a kid

Sweet Annalyn

They climbed up the tree and Annalyn was ready for her photo..cheese.

Annalyn could not be left out of all the swing excitement. She would point to the swing and say "Pllllllease." Bart couldn't resist and took her. He took her on the big swing too, but that picture was just too far away to be seen clearly.

Super Ben! Great shorts buddy, If I were a red neck....:D

Actually jean shorts are not that bad of an idea, my swim suit was worn out after this trip!

Labor Day at Bear Lake

2008-09-08T16:23:00.000-07:00

Once Upon a Time there were a group of friends that took a labor day vacation to Bear Lake. The air was clean and the sun shone brightly on them. They feasted on fantastic food and laughed and played until they collapsed into their sleeping bags under a star-filled night sky. They built a sand car to play in and took to the glass lake on a super fast jet ski. The little girl took her turn at driving the jet ski and was thrilled to see her daddy nearly knocked off by the power at her fingertips. The children sent kites into sky and watched with delight as they whipped and turned with the wind. They took to the pavement in childlike fancy with their feet to the pedals of their bikes, not nearly as fast now as they had been on the water rocket. Life was pleasant.

And then it happened...the sky began to darken and the ground moved with great gusts of wind and rain came from the heavens. The water was coming from all sides as the friends rushed under a pavilion for safety, waiting to see if it would calm. But as the winds raged on they sought refuge in their tent. They curled up in their sleeping bags and turned on a movie. The wind ferociously whipped the ten and a uneasiness settled on the hearts of those at Cottonwood camp site 25 and 26. A decision was made...abandon camp. As everyone scrambled to pack up their gear the ground of the tent began to move in ways it was not meant to. On closer observation, the tent was now floating on water. Rain soaked and exhausted, they made their way home in the blackness of the night as the rain pounded on their SUV"s and Trucks. Slow and steady they made their way to the comfort of the soft beds, never to return to Bear Lake again...at least until next year.

We went out with a bang didn't we guys. Thanks for a fun weekend!

Janelle's Wedding

2008-09-08T16:10:00.000-07:00

Yummy Chocolate Cake

These are a few pictures of my friend Janelle's Wedding. She looked so beautiful, very elegant and she was simply glowing. She had her reception at Market Street in Cottonwood on the top floor, it had wonderful views as well as their fabulous food. Abigail loved the cake and wanted me to take her picture by it. After dinner she said she wanted to take her picture with "princess Janelle" which at that point Annalyn came running over cuddling Janelle all the while posing for the picture saying "Cheese."

Congratulations Janelle and Andrew

More Garner Fun

2008-09-08T16:03:00.000-07:00

One of the afternoons was spent whacking a sponge bob pinata. A friend of our family's was staying at the resort that same week we were there. They were having a family reunion and invited us to one of their family's events. The girls were so excited to get all the yummy candy, and of course so were we. It was cute, Annalyn was so happy with just her two pieces of candy and was proud of her accomplishment. However, Miss Julee could not let her just have two pieces, she had to have a lunch bag full.

Trip To Garner State Park Texas

2008-09-03T14:49:00.000-07:00

Deep in the hill country of West Texas lies a little piece of heaven on earth: Garner State Park. The four of us packed up and flew to Texas for our annual Croft Family Vacation. After buying enough food to feed an army and loading up Ben and Katie's van we drove to the Frio Country Resort where my parents reserved a cabin on the bank of the frio country river. Where you spend the days swimming, sitting and swinging in the river and the evenings are spent with the local wildlife at the outdoor dance. It was a week of fond memories and plenty of action pack adventure, who knew our little five year old could climb a tree with the big kids and swing out across the river and drop a good 12 feet to the cold water.

Every night my mom had planned a theme dinner. These are pictures of our Hawaiian night, complete with Hawaiian haystacks and lemonade in our coconut cups. We also had a Texas BBQ, night, Gumbo and of course our Dutch Oven Breakfast. Isn't our bright blue cabin so cool...it had air conditioning and that is all that matters.

One afternoon we decided to do just a little hike before swimming, ha! This was no little hike as we had anticipated, it was strait up the mountain. We made it to the top and explored Crystal Cave. At one point on the hike Abigail, sweaty and exhausted said "We are all going to die." After resting, drinking all the water and having a piece of fruit leather we began our trek do We ran into a few fellow hikers that were also surprised by the difficulty of this hike, after some encouraging words they went up and we continued our descent, Abigail and Ben pretty much ran the entire way down, while the rest of us hung back. Carly was the first casualty of the steep descent; she went falling straight on her back into a huge rock. Which was really scary since she has a medal rode next to her spine ouch. Next casualty: Bart and Annalyn. All I heard was sliding rock and when I turned around Bart had caught Annalyn upside down before her head hit the ground and he was in the splits. I about had a heart attack! She cried for a minute and then all was well. When we got to the bottom, Abigail said "What took you guys so long, we have been here forever!" We just laughed and then praising the name of God the entire time jumped into the refreshing river to cool ourselves...have I ever mentioned that in Texas it's hot? :D

I know it's a fuzzy picture but, the dark spot in the cave walls are daddy long legs!

The hike was worth the beautiful scenery

Here is a moment for the record books: Abigail's first dance with Connor a boy that wasn't too shy to ask a pretty girl to dance. After the dancing the night away with him, she said "While I was dancing with Connor, I fell in love." AAHH is this suppose to happen so soon, thank heaven the chances of meeting that boy again is pretty slim. Abigail in 20 years you can think about falling in love. :D

*Note to family: I realized I don't have any pictures of the river or Abigail on the rope swing, hopefully you all have some good pics.

Want to join a club?

2008-08-28T15:30:00.000-07:00

My friend gave me this book for my birthday and I enjoyed reading. If I had to describe this book in one word it would be relaxing. I became entranced of the lives of these woman and how vastly different each one was and how each character had their own specific story that added a richness to the plot. I was more enthralled with how they came together each Friday night for their knitting club and ended up with more than a knitted sweater.

In this book knitting becomes a metaphor for life, through all the ups and downs, the stupid mistakes and choices to forgive, through all the happy moments and tragedy and loss, through travels taken and dreams forged: beautifully intertwining.

I saw how women can come together, though vastly different in personality and life ambitions and create a bond that could get them through the best and the worst. Friends for life, has an entirely new meaning to me after reading this book. It gave me pause and reflection on the friendships I have created in my lifetime and how important it is to have friends. I couldn't imagine going through life without them.

MASTERING A COMPLICATED STITCH
It becomes exciting as you begin to see the pattern take shape, when you can go row after row without even looking at your hands, when you move on from knit and purl to cable and slip stitch and intarsia. (There's nothing like your first argyle!) Its the reward for perseverance. Don't let it go to your head or stick to the same moves; learn new stitches and see how far you can go.

Finale

2008-08-28T14:56:00.000-07:00

The entire female population anxiously awaited the final installment of Stephenie Meyer's epic Twilight series. Many woman went to midnight parties, stayed up all night to read to find out the fate of the beloved characters. I would consider myself near the bottom of Stephenie's fan club and got the book about a week after it was out. I read and read, and some nights sacrificed watching some of the Olympic highlights all to find out what happened next and get the stupid thing read. If you have not yet read this book and do not wish to have anything spoiled...stop reading now. Or if you loved the book and are devoted fan and don't want to hear a critique then I recommend stopping now, because here comes my opinion.

I stand behind my earlier review of her first three books and say, yes miss Stephenie is no writer but a good story teller. At times I felt the book was kind a thrown together. There were parts in the book I couldn't believe how long she was taking to get to the point, the part of the book where the narrator is Jacob. The entire time I was reading I kept thinking, come on now get on with it we know we know you love Bella and you are torn and hurt and blah blah blah. And then the description of their nauseating love scenes and the vampire fathering a child that gruesomely is killing her teenage mother as it rapidly grows inside her and then chews its way out only to have bizarre talent of her own that would creep me out every time I thought of it. Then she goes and wraps it up in this pretty little package of "and they all live happily ever after and after and after." The book ends with even more loose ends...what happens to the baby and her supposed soul mate Jacob (another yuk factor), what about the boy the other half human and half vampire boy, could he want Reneseme, what about the Cullen family in general I mean they live forever, there story doesn't really end. And can we please find poor Leah a soul mate too. Come on why do all the men get to live happily ever after and with their imprints and poor Leah lives as the woman scorned...come on Meyer! Despite all my little rants it was an entertaining series, and I am wanting to see how they do the movie this winter. Meyer does have some kind of spell about her books, even though they drive you crazy, you still want to read them and see the movie! And I guess that is talent in and of itself.

These are a few of my favorite things: Camping

2008-08-26T07:59:00.000-07:00

We got our new tent last year after our $20 dollar pawn shop beauty was ruined by the boy scouts. Bart took the lead on this one since it was his birthday gift. After much searching this is the one he purchased, and it is nice. The entire family including the dog, all our gear (one queen size air mattress included) with space to spare is the fantastic part of this tent. It has double doors and extra large windows and plenty of head room. The girls love to help daddy set it up and even help us clean it out. Annalyn is pretty excited to go to bed and lay next to her sister in her very own sleeping bag. Except the silly little girl doesn't like to be zipped up, and it gets pretty cold at night in the mountains. We end up having to bring extra blankets anyway. Abigail likes all the extra little pockets to put flashlights in and glasses cases in. We are looking forward to many years of camping and fun memories...boy scouts not allowed!

This year we converted to dutch oven only cooking. The dutch ovens are easy to clean (vinegar and water) and to store in the car. And you can not have a dutch oven without having a lifter to lift the lid...we had gloves and pliers for awhile, but the lifter is so much nicer! We have two dutch ovens and have cooked ribs and corn bread and our now famous breakfast. We let our family be the experimental group in trying out new recipes . They officially loved the breakfast and so we have been making for every camping trip since. It is quite tasty and the kids love it as well, but you do have to get up early to make it, but it is worth the time it takes.

Mountain Man Breakfast

1	lb.bacon or sausage	10-12	medium potatoes; sliced
2	medium yellow onions; diced	12	eggs; beaten
1 1/2	cups fresh mushrooms; sliced		salt and pepper to taste
1	green bell pepper; diced	3	cups grated Cheddar cheese
3	cloves garlic; minced		picante sauce

Heat a 12" Dutch oven using 18-20 briquettes bottom until hot. Cut bacon into 1 inch slices. Add to Dutch oven and fry until brown. Add onion, mushrooms, bell pepper and saute until onions are translucent. Add potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Cover and bake using 8 briquettes bottom and 14-16 briquettes top for 30 minutes. Season eggs with salt and pepper then pour eggs over top of potatoes. Cover and bake another 20 minutes. Stir gently every 5 minutes. When eggs are done, cover top with cheese and replace lid. Let stand until cheese is melted.

Serve topped with picante sauce.

Serves: 10-12

Cinnamon Pull-Aparts

Ingredients:

4 cans refrigerated tube biscuits

1 cup brown sugar

1 stick butter or margarine

1 cup sugar

4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Cut each biscuit into fourths. You can take several at a time and cut down through all of them to save some time. Mix the sugar and cinnamon in a zip-lock bag. Add all of the biscuit quarters and shake until they are all are coated very well. Melt the butter by inverting the lid of the dutch oven and placing it on or near the fire. Since one side might be hotter than the other, you may need to rotate the lid, or stir the butter to get it all to melt.

Place the coated biscuit fourths in the bottom of the Dutch oven. Pour the melted butter over the biscuit quarters, making sure get get butter on each one of them. Put 6-8 coals underneath Dutch oven and 10-12 on top. Bake for approximately 30 minutes, but you will want to check occasionally to make sure that the oven is not too hot and that the bread is not burning. Rotating the Dutch oven about a 1/4 turn each 8-10 minutes will help also. When done, remove and serve.

If you want to have a nice added touch, make some powdered sugar glaze and drizzle over the bread. This is an easy way to make a cinnamon roll like dish when you are camping. You can even get the biscuit quarters prepared ahead of time. Prepare and store in the zip-lock bag. Just make sure they are well coated to help keep them from sticking together.

Guess Who Doesn't Use Training Wheels

2008-08-25T14:55:00.000-07:00

July 25, 2008

Can't Get Any Better Than This

2008-08-25T12:55:00.000-07:00

Gotta Love The Treasure Hunts

Yea, Movie Time!

Abigail took this picture. Good Job Honey.

Those bugs are pretty illusive, and so are those fish!

Like Father Like Daughter

After we waited in line at 5 am to get a spot, after the parade and after our car broke down ( yet again) and after Bart went to work and after we got his dad's truck and after we went to the grocery store...we finally made it to the beautiful Spruces campground in Big Cottonwood Canyon. We joined our fantastic friends the Jensen's for a weekend of much needed R&R. I think the spruces has to be my most favorite spot to camp, and it is for everyone else. It is so hard to get a site here! This site, was the best. There were so many little groves of trees for the kids to play in and plenty of room for both our families. The weekend was...was...well it was just wonderfully fantastic. We never have a dull moment with the Jensen's and the kids provided some great entertainment as well, I will be posting a video of that later!

The kids rode their bikes, colored and played games, Jamie and I were able to read our books, we went fishing (inside the truck and out), we even snuck in a movie for the kids and Bart and I watched our first episodes of THE OFFICE...hilarious! Of course it wouldn't be camping without incredibly yummy food, way to go Jamie on the cobbler, mine never tastes that good! And way to go Chris for trying the banana boats, you know you'll make your own the next time we have it!:D And of course staying up late conversing and laughing. And then crashing...that is until the one of the kids starts crying or the neighboring campground wont turn off their music (actually, I slept right through the later disturbance. :D)

We had a fantastic time guys...we look forward to our Bear Lake excursion. We'll be sure to pack the Barbie fishing pole. By the way, thanks Jamie for the pictures, I snatched them from your blog. :D

Pioneer Day

2008-08-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

The 24th of July is no ordinary day in the great state Utah. It is the day that celebrates the entry of Brigham young and the Mormon Pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley after being forced from their homes in Nauvoo, Illinois. The came to the valley in the year 1847, and so the days of festivities are called The Day's of '47. I have a special fondness for this parade because it is attached to so many fun memories.

Both my parents were born and raised in Utah and then moved out of state when I was nine years old. We always centered our family vacations back to Utah around the 24th of July parade. My dad's side of the family really got into the parade and slept out the night before at the corner of 200 East and 900 South, just blocks from the home I now own. I remember going down to our spot the night before and sleeping out under the stars...well not really sleeping. With the Croft and Bennett side of the family. My Grandma always had baskets of goodies, including her signature items: sweet rolls and diet coke. And yes my grandma slept on the ground right next to us...though in later years she upgraded to a cot. My grandma slept out at the parade until she was 88 years old!

It was a time we reconnected with extended families and enjoyed being children. My cousins, Emily and Jonathan and my sisters and I were really close even though we lived in different states. I remember the time we walked from their house up by the University down to our spot and found a puppy that instantly became ours and our days of '47 mascot. Or the time that uncle Jon took us kids to get a "BIG BELCH" from the "Sev" we thought we were so special, and then sick to our stomachs. And of course who could forget uncle Gerald camping out for 5 days in order to get the spot our family had claimed for the past 50 plus years. You know they made a law that made it restricted to the night before because of him!! Crazy Right! The news even did a story on him and our family was featured and Carly and My Dad were on TV (my dad interviewed) oh memories!

Now I am making memories for my own children in having them participate in this own childhood love. We now have a different spot to sit, we rotate years between sitting with Bart's family and mine. When Abigail was younger, Bart and his dad would clean out the roofing dump truck and put carpet in the bottom and take the side off the truck and tie a rope across the side to keep the kids back. They would fill the truck with chairs and umbrellas and one year we even had water misters hanging from the umbrellas and then they would hoist up the truck bed above the rooftops and we had the greatest view in the house. Then my in-law's would make this fantastic breakfast with french toast, eggs, bacon and potato's. There are always treats galore and the girls have a great time watching the floats and dancing to the bands. I have never seen Annalyn stay in one place for so long. She would only move to get another candy from the candy bowl or to get her snow cone and other than that she would sit in her chair with her legs crossed bobbing her head and tapping her toes to the music of the bands marching by. Abigail, who is usually front and center stayed behind the umbrella with her cousins and just letting it all in.

This is like watching my life come in full circle, with out the part of sleeping out. We sleep in our own beds and have everyone park in our driveway and then walk to the parade. I hope that when my children look back on their childhood that they too have a special fondness for Pioneer Day. Annalyn, Julia, me, Sophie, Sarah and Esmé Smith

Carter, Elle, kid I don't know, Andrew, Nikolas and Abigail

Thanks J...I took this from your blog :D.

The Great Outdoors

2008-08-22T09:10:00.000-07:00

They look like father and daughter in this picture, don't they?

Have I ever mentioned that we love camping? Well in case you are a newer blog reader we love camping! And we love it even more when we can share the experience with friends. During this camping trip we went with our friends the Smith's. We went camping off the mirror lake highway and were a tad worried about whether we would be able to find a spot, since our first choice campground was full. We ended up finding a beautiful spot nestled in the trees and away from other sights. We had our tent higher up on the mountain in the greenery and the girls had little room of trees to play in and room to roam. I love the sense of community that camping brings, everyone is so friendly. We even had a couple visitors to our camp site who enjoyed playing with the kids and sitting around the campfire telling stories, singing songs and of course it wouldn't be a camping trip without a treasure hunt. Bart loves to pretend he is a pirate and makes a map for the kids and buries treasures around the campsite. The kids get a kick out of counting steps and looking for landmarks. Abigail is a lot like her dad and gets pretty competitive about the whole thing. I think my favorite part about this trip was putting all the kids to bed and staying up around the campfire talking with Alex and Sarah. I asked Abigail what her favorite part was and she said she liked the nature walk and seeing the "real life" beaver lodge in the pond and seeing the tree that was gnawed down by beavers. Good Times!

Guess Who Has Glasses

2008-08-22T08:41:00.000-07:00

Last month we took Abigail in for her "well child" visit. The Pediatrician conducted an eye exam, the results were 20/50 in one eye and 20/70 in the other. She then recommended we have her eyes examined by an optometrist. A few days later we spent an entire afternoon having her eyes tested with several different types of tests. Then conclusion: she has a astigmatism and is far sighted. Abigail was quite thrilled to be getting glasses and wanted to take them home that day. We picked up daddy from the airport and she was excited to tell him that she was going to be just like him. We went to Lenscrafter's straightaway, she was so anxious to get them so we didn't wait. We looked through the kids glasses, and these were not her first choice. Her first choice was a pair of hot pink wire rim glasses (of course) but they were just too big for her face, so the cute red pair was her second choice. It was a very surreal moment for me. Standing there letting her pick out her glasses, all of a sudden she looked very grown up. She was so happy, but I was so nervous and scared, I know its silly but all sorts of things were running through my head but to see the look of happiness on her face eased some of the nerves. Since then she has had a love-hate relationship with her glasses and now my purse is fully stocked with glasses cleaner and I think we have only forgotten to put them on a few times. She looks incredibly adorable and I am really grateful that we were able to find out she needed glasses before she started Kindergarten so that she wouldn't have difficulty in school. In hindsight I can see the signs of her difficulty. When we would practice reading she would give up after reading only a few pages and say her eyes were tired. She no longer has her "tired spells" while reading and for that I am grateful. We will be returning to the doctor at the end of the month to check on how her eyes are adjusting. Bart and I knew that one of our kids would probably wear glasses...it's in the gene pool. Abigail has grown up with so many people around her wearing glasses it hasn't been to hard of an adjustment. In fact during our last visit to Texas she asked my sister Katie, if she would marry someone with glasses. Because Papa Croft, Daddy and Uncle Ben all have glasses. Little did she know that in a few short weeks she would be joining the ranks.

Who Could Ask for Anything More

2008-08-22T08:13:00.000-07:00

favorite part of the park, she cried and cried when the ride was over. We spent most of the day there and had a great time. The kids were worn out, and One of my most favorite things about where we live, is that we are just a few blocks away from Salt Lake City's biggest park. Every day we hop on our bikes and experience Liberty Park. The pictures posted here is a day we spent with our friends the Jensen's last month. I believe Kayden called it the "hugest park ever" as we took in the full experience of the park, I think the only thing we didn't do was the paddle boats. We rode our bikes around the park, and started at the big playground and ran through the fountains. We worked up an appetite so we headed over to the small playground where we at the free lunch in the shade. We then headed to the Rivers part of the park, a miniature water feature representing the main rivers in Utah flowing into the Great Salt Lake, and then over to the fair park where we rode the carousel. This is Annalyn'sAnnalyn fell asleep in the bike trailer before we even exited the park.

Oh what do you do in the summertime?

2008-08-03T14:13:00.000-07:00

When the temperature outside rises and the exhaustion of the people living inside reaches a boiling point mom looks around trying to cool it down and finds an empty egg carton. A few pipe-cleaners, googly eyes and painter pallet and wala, we have our own little critters to call our own...things are cooled down and the kids are happy playing for the remaining hours before dad gets home from work. Certain meltdown avoided!

2008-07-31T10:04:00.000-07:00

Fiddle Concert on July 10

2008-07-31T09:37:00.000-07:00

It was the annual fiddle concert held at Sugarhouse park. This is a fun event for all the violinist because they get to play the all the fun foot-stompin' music and have a picnic lunch with their family and friends. The kids get to dress up in their cowboy garb have their pictures taken in the MOST WANTED sign. Her teacher had little plastic cowboy hats filled with candy for each of the students and the programs where printed on bandanna paper. Abigail played three songs in the concert: Scotland the Brave, Bile Them Cabbage Down, and Twinkle Variations 1&5. Annalyn even got into the action wearing her cowgirl outfit and bringing her toy violin. Muga, Papa and our friend Jen joined our family for the concert fun. The kids played well and I was very proud of Abigail. She does well playing with the other children, it keeps her on her toes, that's for sure.

4th of July Weekend

2008-07-30T12:48:00.000-07:00

The fourth of July weekend can only be described by Charles Dickens': "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." The best times had with the family, the worst times the injuries and the car.

The day began with the annual Liberty Ward breakfast. We should have known that the day was headed downhill when they didn't serve the traditional Sister Sorensen scones. The day was cool from the overcast and the girls and I rode our bikes over to the church, Bart was already there setting up for the day. After chatting with our friends we got ready to go to Bear Lake, with Bart's side of the family. We had been looking forward to this trip, and we were going to get there as early as possible. Bear Lake is one of our family's favorite vacation spots, and it has been over a year since we had been. This place holds special meaning to us, maybe I will tell more about it in another blog.

So, we got the car packed up and our truck ready. We sold the truck to a man in Logan and made arrangements to drop it off to him, since we were headed that way. We were going to be driving the truck unregistered and so I had to follow close behind. Now, a little info about me. I hate driving long distances....hate it. It makes me incredible nervous, I do it, but I don't like it. Worse than driving long distances, I hate driving in construction and I was doing both. My stomach was in knots. Lucky for me the girls slept the entire way to Logan. We dropped off the truck and Bart took over the wheel. Not 5 minutes later we heard a loud bang and our car began to steam. We pulled it over and antifreeze was everywhere, and the thermometer was in the read. We cooled it off and saw a gas station up ahead. We made it there and after a few phone calls to Bart's dad, and Bart playing with the mechanics under the hood, and 4 ice cream cones later (did I mention is was near 100 degrees when we were stranded and no shade to be found), it was concluded that we needed a new radiator. The big bang we heard was a piece of our fan shooting into the radiator. 2 miles away was an auto parts store, we drove, shut the car off when it got hot and barely and I mean barely coasted into the parking lot. There the girls and I walked to a nearby DQ and waited for Bart as he changed the radiator right there in the parking lot. That's my man!!

As we were heading off into the canyon. Bart and I talked about really how we had been blessed by Heavenly Father. He was watching out for us, because that car could have broken in a worse place...while I was driving in the middle of construction, in the canyon...even though it wasn't a fun experience we recognize the hand of God and are grateful for those little miracles that brings us to our knees in thanksgiving.

Well we got to the top of the canyon ready for our decent when we had to pull over again, this time for me. I was reliving my pregnancy days and throwing up on the side of the rode. That night I had the worst stomach pains, I could barely eat and I wasn't the best company either. Bart and his dad gave me a blessing and that was a comfort that this trip wasn't going to be a lost cause. Julia and Dustin had made dinner that night...dutch oven chicken and potato's...yummy. They also had a fun game for the kids that had its benefits. They rolled around this cool ball and after they were done, there was ice cream to be enjoyed by all.

The next day was a great day on the beach after having Gary's famous camp breakfast. The kids were so cute and had a blast playing in the sand and riding in Muga and Papa's boat. Bart had a great time too, he got a lot of great skiing in. My memories of the boat, not so fond. We took Annalyn out on her first ride she was, thrilled yelling and having a great time. I was enjoying the breeze in my face and bouncing on the waves. When Bart got back into the boat after skiing we took off...I mean we really took off. I was alone in the bow of the boat and Annalyn was with Bart in the back. The boat was going so fast that we hit a wave and the boat went flying in the air (you could hear the moter change its sound). Everything went in slow motion. I remember looking over the edge, thinking "dang that is high" and then I was up off the seat and down with a thud. We hit so hard I screamed. I hurt my tailbone so bad, I had a hard time moving the entire day. My tailbone is just starting to feel better all these weeks later. Needless to say the next boat ride, I sat in the very back, were it was a lot less bumpy and we went a little slower, thank heaven. It was a nice ride, so nice Annalyn fell asleep in my arms. We had a BBQ right there on the beach for lunch and just chilled. It was so nice!!

That night Trica and Ben had Tin Foil Dinners prepared which tasted really good after a long day at the beach. We then headed over to LaBeau's for their famous shakes. The kind of shakes so famous you have to wait 20 minutes to get one. And of course after all that waiting it was then my kid decided she needed to go to the bathroom. The shake was still good. We then headed over to the church parking lot and lit off our own fireworks. The kids ooh and awwed over the small light show and loved playing with the sparklers. On the way back to our campsite, the kids fell asleep, worn from the days adventures.

The next morning was very relaxing. Bart and I were in charge of Breakfast and we decided the family was going to be the taste testers on new dutch oven recipes. Fortunately it was a hit, our mountain man breakfast and cinnamon pull-aparts. It was fantastic and the kids gobbled it down. We just played around the campsite for awhile, kids riding bikes and scooters. Coloring in Tricia and Ben's trailer or monkeying around in our tent. We packed up and headed home, the girls slept the moment we started all the way to ark City.

We had a great time and would do it again in a heart beat. What do you guys think about making this a yearly tradition...all but the car breaking down, getting sick and a bruised tailbone :D.

Family Night in Millcreek Canyon

2008-07-30T12:38:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite family outings is going to the mountains for dinner. We are lucky enough to live 20 minutes from the beautiful Millcreek Canyon. It is a picnic canyon only is one of our favorites. We love to make tinfoil dinners: with carrots, onions, green peppers, tater-tots and hamburger and cook them in the fire. For dessert, smore's Robison style. We get the fudge strip cookies and place our roasted marshmallows in the center. This night was a momentous one...the fire you see was started by Abigail. It made me nervous the entire time her dad was showing her how, fearing that when we got home she would then be interested in matches, we have been fortunate her fire starting has only been in the mountains, in the fire pit. I think this is the first picture we have of the other member of our family, Molly. She loves to go with us to the mountains and we bring her whenever we can.

Anniversary

2008-07-29T13:42:00.000-07:00

It hardly seems like it has been 8 years since we walked into the Salt Lake LDS temple to be married for time and all eternity. Just kids then, I was barely 20 and Bart nearly 24. It seems like the day goes by in a blur of happiness and excitement. And then the real work begins and eight years later you find yourself, never where you originally imagined or expected and more in love than that momentous day. That deep and respecting love doesn't come without cost. Our eight years of marriage has been no bed of roses, but I feel we have learned much and have come leaps and bounds since June 22, 2000. Bart is my constant, my best friend for now and into eternity. The years have seemed to go by so fast....yet at times so slow. But I figure we made it this far, another 8 wont be so bad. :D I look forward to the future with confidence, I have Barton Lynn Robison at my side.

In years past we have always gone to a B&B, but we did that for Christmas so this year we stayed close to home. We decided to try one of Salt Lakes notable Italian resteraunt, Cucina Toscana. It has won numerous awards and has been featured in several magazines. And I can see why...it was the most amazing Italian food I have EVER tasted. We took about 3 hours to eat, just savoring every bite. We each got an antipasti: Me a Zuppe Cotta: canneli, veggies and porcini mushrooms in truffle oil and Bart an Italian meet sampler. We shared a pasta dish of Gnocchi and Spinach Ravioli and then I had a Rosemary chicken and Bart a veal cutlet. WOW. I really can't think of any words to describe it! Sunday was our actual anniversary, so Bart cooked us all a pork dinner with all the trimmings, he told me I could just relax and read my book. What a great hubby!

This was the B&B we stayed in as a pre-anniversary retreat. The Great Oaks Manor Bed and Breakfast is located in Sugarland, Texas and is the most stunning B&B. We were on the second floor in the veranda room. French doors led out onto the veranda where we could sit and and enjoy the view and eat complementary desserts. We had a great time. I loved it so much that we gave my sister and her husband a gift certificate for Christmas, and they went for their anniversary and has quite the story to tell...about it being haunted...Katie you need to blog that story! Sorry the picture is so small, but the house is huge and the breakfast is incredible.

2008-07-29T08:44:00.000-07:00

Birthday Party

2008-07-29T08:18:00.001-07:00

I am a little behind on my posts. I just barely pulled the photos from my memory card. These are pictures from Abigail's birthday party we had last month with the family here in Utah. Abigail was so excited and felt so pretty. She loved her new outfit she got from her cousins that she wanted me to do a photo shoot of her, so began to pose and say "mom take a picture of me like this, now like this" what a little diva. We had the kids decorate their own kites, ate pizza on the little picnic table and Abigail showed off her new bike from mom, dad and sister. When I asked Abigail what kind of cake she wanted, without
hesitation....a pink cat. Without hesitation. I think my creation turned out pretty cute. Good Times.

Name in the Newspaper

2008-07-29T07:48:00.000-07:00

High prices boost use of free meal programs in Utah

Federal school lunches and breakfasts offered throughout state

By Lisa Schencker
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune

Article Last Updated:

In summers past, Britney Visser mostly fixed lunch for her two children at home.
But this summer, with gas and food prices rising, she's taking them to a Kearns park every day for free, federally funded lunches. The free lunches help offset the cost of the gas her husband needs to drive to work each day, Visser said as she sat on a picnic blanket eating lunch with her children at the park Wednesday.
"I know if I bring my kids to lunch here they'll eat healthier because I can't afford the healthy food at home," she said.
Many families, at many different income levels across the state, are in the same situation. The Salt Lake City School District, which runs many of the summer lunch sites in Utah, is serving about 10 percent more lunches this summer than last, said Kelly Orton, director of support services for the district. The district serves about 10,000 lunches a day at its 66 sites, Orton said.
To the north, the Ogden City School District also served about 10 to 12 percent more meals in June than in June last year, said Laura Decker, child nutrition secretary for the district. In the rural, southern corner of the state, the San Juan School District is serving 3 percent more meals than last summer, said John Parkinson, district food service director.
"A lot of people really need it at this point with the economy the way it is," said Kathy Iversen, a nutrition manager for the Salt Lake district, who helped hand out lunches at Liberty Park this week.
She said some children arrive at Liberty Park a half hour early each day to stand in line for the food. Some seem overly hungry, she said.
"For some of the kids here, this might be the only meal they're getting," Iversen said.
Grandmother Gloria Rodriguez said she brings her grandchildren to Liberty Park most days to make sure they get at least one nutritious meal a day. She said her daughter's food stamps don't go as far as they once did.
Rodriguez, who works at a local grocery store, said she's also noticed her paycheck doesn't buy as much food as it used to.
Food prices rose 1.3 percent along the Wasatch Front in June, according to Wells Fargo economist Kelly Matthews. Since last year, food prices have shot up 5 percent nationally, he said.
"This way it eases my mind," Rodriguez said. "I know they're getting something. They have something I know was nutritious."
But low-income families aren't the only ones taking advantage of the free summer lunch program.
Each day, many seemingly middle class families dot local parks and schools. They push strollers, haul picnic blankets and bikes. Stay-at-home moms coordinate play dates around the meals or read novels as their children eat.
"I enjoy having the kids play with other kids, and having a free lunch doesn't hurt because it saves a lot in my pocketbook," said Kimberly Robison, who said she brings her two children to Liberty Park each day.
Normally, during the school year, schools only offer free and reduced price lunches to students from families that make a certain amount of money or less. The summer meals, however, are served in areas where many children normally take advantage of free lunches during the school year and are for anyone. All children have to do during the summer is show up to get the free meals. Parents can eat the meals for $3.
The idea is to make the meals as accessible as possible during the summer when families might not know where to turn, said Luann Shipley, director of the Child Nutrition Office at the Utah State Office of Education.
This summer, the Salt Lake district program is feeding more people than ever before.
"It feels good to know I'm not the only mom in that situation," said Sarahi Velazquez as her four kids lunched on burritos, carrots, applesauce, milk, graham crackers and baked chips at the Kearns park recently. "We are an average, everyday family. It's not just for low-income people. It's for everyone."
Kearns mother Jolene Harris said her family is cutting back in many areas to save money this summer. She said she tries to walk rather than drive whenever possible. When she does have to drive, she tries to do all her errands at once to avoid multiple trips.
She also brings her four kids to the Kearns park each day to save on food costs while her husband, an education professional, looks for a new job.
"Just with gas prices and food prices, everything is tighter now," Harris said. "I think everyone is having to cut back everywhere they can."

The Secret Life of Bees

2008-07-22T12:54:00.000-07:00

This has been added to my top 10 favorite books of all time! The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd is a simple story, not with a lot of mystery or intrigue or unrequited love. It is a beautiful story about sisterhood and the power of women. It is a story of unconditional love, forgiveness, family and self discovery.

The story takes place in the deep south in 1964, during the heat of the civil rights movement. When the young Lily Owens sets out on a journey to find out more about the mother she lost tragically as a child. She and her nanny Rosaleen are on the run after an incident with three of the towns racists. They come to find refuge in a Pink house with beekeeping sisters. She learns the life of a beekeeper and the magic powers of honey and the history of the Black Madonna. And discovers something she never anticipated.

It is a wonderful story of the divinity of women, it is a story all women should read. I can not wait to read this with my girls one day.

This needs no introduction

2008-07-22T12:31:00.000-07:00

Back in October I read the now bestselling books by Stephenie Meyer. I was very hesitant to read, because of all the hype and the sensational story of vampires, not really my thing. I gave into peer pressure and began to read. As I began to read, I thought I might be the only woman in the country who hated this book. I was quite annoyed with the supposed heroine and thought over and over: can this author not think of any more adjectives to use other than, "glistening and gleaming and hard and cold." However, as I read on I became a fan. Meyer is a great storyteller and I was on pins and needles wondering what was to happen next in this addictive saga. I wouldn't say these books are literary masterpieces, but they are very entertaining to read. I can not believe it is time for the next installment to come out...that means summer is ending...sad.
But, I have put in my pre-order of Breaking Dawn and can't wait to see what happens to the characters I have become so fond of.

Now, if you liked Meyer's books then I am almost POSITIVE you will LOVE my next book review of Libba Bray's trilogy! Check it out ladies you wont be disappointed!!!!!

A Thrilling Trilogy

2008-07-22T08:49:00.000-07:00

I don't think I have been captivated by a collection of books since Harry Potter. This collection has all the thrill and excitement as well as exquisite writing. Libba Bray pulls you into the world of corsets, debutante debuts and finishing schools and the mysterious life of Gemma Doyle. The young girl who finds herself with incredible supernatural powers a wild creature in the world of prim and proper. This is a tale of ghastly creatures, forbidden and deep love, mystery, intrigue, powerful friendships, and beauty in places we have only imagined, impending doom and the power of one girl to change destiny. I have read that a movie is in production as we write and set to come out next year. This book was worth every late evening as my family lay sleeping. And as a little secret...there was one night I was scared so bad I had to quit reading and wake up Bart to give me a hug...laughing all the while at my silliness...I know that monsters don't exist! :D

Tuesdays with Morrie

2008-07-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

This had to have been one of the most influential books I have read. A true story of a man dying of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Lou Gehrig's disease. A professor giving his last lessons on life to an eager student. This is a book I will read over and over because of all the valuable information that lies within its pages. I can not give it a proper review, all I can say is that every human soul should read this book.

Morrie always said that you can never know the value of life, until you know you are that your life is being taken away, and ALS is a slow and painful way to die. He left a legacy to us about how to value all that life has to offer and never take things for granted and to realize that some things are less important than others and to live for what truly matters.
Here are just a few excerpts/lessons from Morrie:

"The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in."

"I thought about all the people I knew who spent many of their waking hours feeling sorry for themselves. How useful it would be to put a daily limit on self-pity. Just a few tearful minutes, then on with the day. And if Morie could do it, with such a horrible disease..."

"And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too-even when you're in the dark. Even when you're falling."

"The fact is, there is no foundation, no secure ground, upon which people may stand today if it isn't the family. It's become quite clear to meas I 've been sick. IF you don't have the support and love and caring and concern that you get from a family, you don't have much at all."

"It's very simple. As you grow, you learn more. Of you stayed at twenty-two, you'd always be as ignorant as you were at twenty-two. Aging is not just decay, you know. It's growth. It's more than the negative that you're going to die, it's also the positive that you understand you're going to die, and that you live a better life because of it....Listen. You should know something. All younger people should know something. IF you're always battling against getting older, you're always going to be unhappy, because it will happen anyhow."

"Remember what I said about finding a meaningful life? I wrote it down, but now I can recite it: Devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning. 'You notice', he added, grinning, 'there's nothing in there about a salary.'"

"There are a few rules I know to be true about love and marriage: If you don't respect the other person, you're going to have a lot of trouble. IF you don't know how to compromise, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can't talk openly about what goes on between you, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. And if your don't have a common set of values in life, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. Your values must be alike....and the biggest one of those values is your belief in the importance of your marriage."

"Forgive yourself. Forgive others. Don't wait, Mitch. Not everyone gets the time I'm getting. Not everyone is as lucky."

And these are just a few of the precious gems this man teaches, there is much more and I know that your outlook on life will be enriched if you read this book. If you were to read only one of my recommended books...this would be it!

A Thousand Splendid Suns

2008-07-20T14:46:00.000-07:00

After reading The Kite Runner I knew I had to read Khaled Hosseini's second book A Thousand Splendid Suns. I am completely enamored with his writing style, and he certainly didn't disappoint in his second book. He has a gift in describing the soul, and in this book the souls of two women. It is a story of two Afghan women and the struggles they encounter in a war torn and oppressive country. Their stories emerge and it becomes a story more about two kindred spirits. The devotion they find in each other a devotion that can even defy death and the overcome obstacles that may have been thought impossible. After reading this book I was truly grateful that I am a woman who lives in the United States of America and the privileged life I have led and the freedoms I as a women enjoy and that I can look to the future with hope and prosperity and have the same hopeful outlook for my daughters. I can imagine the possibilities.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

2008-07-20T14:22:00.000-07:00

While sitting in their room playing with toys at my parents house, Annalyn engaged in the workings of a toy car studying it in and out and Abigail with her barbie dolls. My dad asked Annalyn: "Are you going to be a mechanic when you grow up?" Annalyn looked up at him and smiled, but it was Abigail who began to give a detailed account of what she was going to do when she grows up.

She told us the she was going to be a chef...we all were impressed...she clarified....a chef at McDonald's. That way she could eat there any time she wants and she made promises that we could all have free food and the best playground, complete with a puppy pen, where you can play with all different kinds of puppies and a dress up area to play princess and everyone could have two prizes.

Only in a child's world right. Since that time she has said she wanted to be a dentist, a "hairdoer" and engineer and a doctor. Today when I asked her again she said, "I really don't know, there are just too many good jobs out there." Well my dear you have plenty of time to figure it all out!

These are a few of my favorite things: Art

2008-07-16T12:48:00.000-07:00

As the summer sizzles on, I have found art time a great retreat for our quiet afternoons. One thing I am trying to overcome is my fear of messes. I do not like cleaning up art mess off my tables, floors or my children. I have found a few things that have made my life a little easier. And so here are a few of my favorite things . First, the watercolor paintbrush found at Lakeshore Learning. I love how you fill the water into the paintbrush so you don't have the messy water in a cup that can get spilled everywhere and that you have to keep changing. After you use a color you simply wipe on a paper towel and its ready for the next color. A lot come in a package but I have just taken a few out and they have lasted since I got them and the rest are stored for when we need them. I also LOVE this paper from IKEA. The roll of paper is 6.99 and it seems like it never runs out. I tape it onto either my kitchen table or the girl's little table and let the girls have at it and I don't worry about coloring on my table. I have taken it outside and ran it the width of my driveway and let the girls finger-paint their very own mural. It is worth every cent!

Swimmy Swimmy

2008-07-13T13:50:00.000-07:00

Sisters

2008-07-13T13:27:00.000-07:00

One night during my stay my two sisters and I got to go on a sisters night out, while my mom watched the girls. We first went to one of Katie's favorite eateries Buffalo Wild Wings and then to a movie: What stays in Vegas...very funny movie, my cheeks hurt from laughing so much. This is something we have never done before, just the three of us. Strange to think this has never been done, but either just one of us is visiting or we have other family around so this was really fun. I love my little sisters and as we have gotten older I think we have become closer. We were close as children too, but there is more of a sisterhood now that we are older and wiser. I love how different we are. I am the serious one, Carly is the caring one and Katie is the passionate one. I love how much they love my girls. The way they dote on them, play silly games with them and help me take care of them amazes me and fills me with so much joy and love. I know that they would do anything for my girls and I find peace and comfort that. I love you both so very much and thanks for the great times and more to come!

First Hair Cut

2008-07-02T15:32:00.001-07:00

One of the things Abigail wanted to do for her birthday was to get her hair cut, her first cut was a year ago (for her birthday as well) and she wanted it short for the summer. I decided to go along with her and cut the hair she has been growing since birth to her shoulders, in the picture below you can tell her hair goes all the way down her back. I was a little nervous, but we did it. When she walked over after her cut she looked like she aged a few years, and was so happy. It turned out really cute and she loves her new style. Except she as been anti bow lately. Thankfully I have another girl to wear all the bows I have spent so much money on. This was going to be her first hair cut. Her hair is so straight that it started to show a little unevenness, unlike her curly hair sibling whose layers were hidden. I wanted to be daring with her and cut her hair in a little bob to her chin, but as you can see she was having none of this haircutting business, not even with cartoons going or a sucker in her hand, so we settled for a two inch trim and evened things out.

Splish Splash...A Big Water Bash

2008-06-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

Our daily routine while in Houston consisted of water water water. It was only way to survive the heat. We only missed two days while we were there. We even went on a Road Trip near San Antonio and spent an entire day at the Schlitterbahn water resort(more about that on another entry). The girls got to be right good swimmers and they especially loved having a BBQ on the patio and loved sitting in the little chairs Grandma and Grandpa have for them and eat on the coffee table. Abigail was all about her tricks, her favorite was trying the cannon ball, except she called it a "cotton ball" she also loved making a tower with aunt Katie and uncle Ben. Annalyn, she just loved jumping in and floating on the water bed. I loved it because the girls were so tired after swimming that they would take really sound naps and I would have a little alone time.

Blueberry Picking

2008-06-28T13:25:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to pick berries and in Houston there are a lot of places to pick all kinds of berries, but whenever I come for a visit it is not berry picking season, and this trip it was!! We had so much fun. The girls, myself, my parents and my sister Carly went right after breakfast to a blueberry farm and got our buckets and went in search of the divine. Blueberries are my kids favorite and they eat them like candy. I don't buy fresh blueberries very often because they are so expensive, but this time it was $1.75 a pound and we picked 7 1/2 pounds! If you know Houston you know it is blazing hot this time of year and it is never cool in the mornings or in the shade like it is here in Utah and so by the end of our excursion we were all very hot and very sweaty and roses in our cheeks. The girls had a grand time and loved picking them and eating a few here and there, it was funny it was the girls pulling papa when we were finished saying we are hot now papa we have have enough. Immediately the girls fell asleep in the car and we drove in the car as long as possible and ended up at a hamburger place none of us had ever been: Culver's. Their specialty is butterbugers and frozen custard, it was a fun treat to have and I would recommend you stop at a Culver's if you ever come across one! And when we got home a swim in the pool was a refreshing experience.

So I know what you are thinking...what did they do with all those blueberries? Three things my friends:
1. Blueberry Jam: my fist attempt at making my own jam and it turned out really well.
2. Blueberry Scones: There is a cafe down the street from my house that I love to get blueberry scones every once in awhile, so I found a recipe off the internet and attempted it myself and I think I may have found a recipe to rival my beloved cafe!
3. Ate them in their natural perfection, by the handful....Annalyn has the picture below to prove it!

Wack a Pinata

2008-06-22T13:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Miss Abigail

2008-06-22T13:06:00.001-07:00

So, my baby turned five while we were in Texas! My parents and sister took the day off of work and we told Abigail we would do whatever she wanted. She told us that for breakfast she wanted to have kolaches, for those of you who are wondering what in the world are kolaches they are a bit of goodness wrapped in a whole lot of yummy. I have never seen kolaches anywhere else besides Texas and its Abigail's favorite thing to eat. You buy the best kolaches in the donut shop. There are many different ways you can have your kolache, but mine and Abigail's favorite is the sausage and cheese wrapped in the puffy soft dough and baked to perfection. It is hard to describe, but they sure are delicious! She then, wanted to go swimming...of course (I will have swimming pictures in a later post) and then a quick nap after lunch. She told my mom in the weeks prior to our arrival that she really wanted a princess castle cake, so my mom ordered this cake for her. (I think my mom had a great time planning and having Abigail's birthday at her house this year! She went all out.)

When we asked Abigail where she would like to eat, she said "at the place where they cook in front of you." So my parents took us to a place we have never dined: Asian City a hibachi grill near my parents home. We had our own table and the girls were enchanted by the magic that was our dinner.

Papa Croft, Aunt Katie, Silly Uncle Ben and birthday girl Abigail

Aunt Carly and Annalyn

Me and Grandma Leslie in front of a wall of water, I loved the sound it made as it flowed behind us.

All our yummy food...and watch out for the flames!

We came home and opened gifts. I just love all Abigail's facial expressions in these next few photos, it makes me smile.

The day concluded with Abigail's favorite part...the pinata. Abigail has been wanting a pinata at her birthday party for months, a princess pinata mind you. So Grandma Leslie bought a pinata at the little Mexico Market. We filled it full of candy and sent the kids off to beat the thing down. We had a little friend of Abigail's over as well, his name is Devin. He is Miss Julee's nephew. Miss Julee is like an aunt to Abigail and has watched her grow up. I didn't get any pictures of them, silly me. When I tucked Abigail in her bed that night she said, "Mom, this was the bestest birthday ever, can we do it again tomorrow?"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABIGAIL, I LOVE YOU MY LITTLE SWEET PEA!

Our Vacation to Texas

2008-06-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

To kick off the summer we headed to steamy Houston, where my parents, sisters and brother-in-law live. I myself have never lived in Houston, my family moved to the giant city after I came to Utah to attend the University of Utah. Even though I can not claim Texas as being my home, it certainly feels that way when I go to visit. While, in my first and second trimester with Annalyn I was severely ill and had to have an IV mid line permanently place in my arm and given fluid and medicine through the mid line. It was during the winter time and I became simply miserable. One February day I was talking with my mom on the phone and telling her how sick and miserable I was and she told me that the flowers were blooming in Texas and it was warm and sunny and thought that it would lift my spirits and help me feel better if I came for a visit. I had made arrangements to have all my medical supplies shipped down there and I was going to stay well into March. Right before I left, my mid line ruptured and I had it removed, my doctor wanted to see how I would do without it. So I nervously took off to Houston, little Abigail in tow. When my dad picked me up at the airport and we stopped to have lunch. I got out of the car it was a warm day and the air hung with humidity. The flowers were tossing their heads in the gentle breeze and the crazy Houston grass was the most green I had seen in my long winter months. I had this wonderful peaceful feeling come over me and as I saw my dad take Abigail out of her car seat, I began to sob...I felt like I was home. I had never had that feeling before in my life, a sense of safety and sense that everything was now going to be okay. I hold a special place in my heart for Houston Texas, I am always home when I am there. Thank you Dad, Mom and Carly for bringing us home for a wonderful trip. So, the following entries will be a glimpse of our first vacation of the summer.

Family Fun

2008-06-18T08:45:00.001-07:00

My Aunt, Uncle and Cousins from New York came for a visit over Memorial Weekend it has been 41/2 years since we have seen them. We met at Liberty Park and played for awhile before bed on Friday and then we had a big family BBQ at Grandma and Grandpa Penman's Saturday. Spencer, my littlest cousin is just older than Abigail, and the two of them hit it off, it was like they had been friends their entire lives. They played everything from soccer, to coloring, to their own imaginative play games. They were just the cutest little friends. There are no other children on my side of the family and so it was great fun for Abigail and Annalyn to have another playmate. My battery depleted and I didn't get any pictures of my aunt and uncle. I hardly recognized my cousins William and Eirk, they have grown up so much. I remember them looking like Spencer, and now they tower over me! It was so much fun to see them and to talk to them. We love you guys and can't wait to see you again.

Abigail and Spencer

Spencer and Annalyn

My cousins: Erik, Malinda, Lauren, William and Jonathan

Below: Erik doing his foot sack tricks...it was really neat to watch.

Art-space

2008-06-16T08:38:00.000-07:00

So, I was in cleaning up the kitchen after breakfast and I noticed it was really quiet, too quiet.
First response: "Abigail, are you okay?"
Reply: "Yes!"
Inquiry: "What are you doing?"
Reply: "Coloring."
Further Inquiry: "What is Annalyn doing?"
Hesitation: "Ummmm."
Background voice: Oh no Annalyn what have you done? You are going to be in so much trouble. I will go and get a wipe.
Final Reply: "Coloring too."
Mom approaches family room and behold:

A work of Art!

My Kimberly

2008-06-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

Well, it is now Kimberly's birthday month, and it is time I wrote about this absolutely amazing woman! I know she won't blog about herself, so this will have to be my first blog entry! (Please excuse the lack of writing mastery that is usually present here.)

Kimberly has been my very best friend and love for more than 9 years now! There is a country song by Savage Garden that always reminds me of our love:

I Knew I Loved You: (click to listen)
Maybe it’s intuition
But something you just don’t question
Like in your eyes, I see my future in an instant
And there it goes,
I think I found my best friend
I know it might sound
More than a little crazy
But I believe……
I knew I loved you before I met you

Let me explain (briefly) what is so incredible about Kimberly, and a few reasons I love her soooo much (even before I met her):
1) Have you read her blog? Enough said - amazing wife, mother, sister, friend!
2) Kimberly is always concerned about those around her. She is constantly considering the feelings of her loved ones, and making certain they are comfortable, happy, and at peace. She is often so concerned about her family or friends, she may become ill and has to help before she can feel better. This genuine concern for others is her gift of charity so many of us seek our entire life to obtain. As a devoted wife, mother, and friend - Kimberly gives of her heart to all.
3) Kimberly is able to bring out the best in those around her. When you experience the love & compassion of Kimberly, you in turn don't want to disappoint. Her gentle approvals and warming smile comforts you and says: although perfection still awaits you, job well done.
4) Elegance, Beauty, Grace, Intelligence, Confidence, Humor, Compassion - Kimberly in a nutshell.
5) FUN!!! Kimberly knows how to have fun! Our family is blessed by Kimberly's desire to have fun! Playing as a family is top priority - largely due to Kimberly! If it were left up to me - I think we would work all of the time, but fortunately Kimberly gets work done so we can have a fun time together, riding bikes, playing games, going to the park, children's museum, zoo, around the block, to a friends house, whatever - just having fun. Kimberly realizes this is so important - be active and have fun!
6)Kimberly has been my best friend since before I can remember - even before I met her. She is truly an angel sent directly to me from my loving Father in Heaven. She blesses my life daily, even if we are apart. I love her, the girls love her, and her friends love her!

Kimberly, we love you! Thank you for being who you are in all of our lives! (Especially in my life.)!

These are a few of my favorite things: Summer Fun

2008-06-05T06:49:00.000-07:00

This is my most favorite thing for summer: my new bike, isn't it so cute. I have been saving for a year for this bike! I came up a little short so it was my birthday present as well. I go riding in the mornings with a friend around the park and I have found a new love. This bike is so comfortable to ride. It was cute when I was buying the bike Abigail told me that I had to have a bell so she got me a lime green bell with polka dots, so we ride around the park together ringing our bells. We found a bike trailer for Annalyn on Craig's list and she thinks its pretty fun to ride behind mommy in her own little compartment. I love love love this bike. I am going on a gas strike this summer as well, so I will be putting a lot of miles on this puppy (well within reason I am not training for the Tour de France). I welcome any company who wants to go on a bike ride.

So if any of you have children like me, this is the perfect summer plate for the following reasons:
1. It is durable, drop outside...not a problem.
2. It keeps all the food separated...no touching food allowed (a sandwich is ruined if the mandarin orange juice gets on it!! you know what I am talking about)
3. It is super cute...super cool kids need to eat on super cool plates (boy colors available of course)
4. Lunch is so much more fun to eat on this plate...a party every day at our house.
5. Easy to find and inexpensive to buy...Target!

Which Disney Princess are You?

2008-05-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

With a now five year old daughter, Disney princesses are a household name. When Abigail was three years old she use to tell people she was Ariel and that is who she was for Halloween. While visiting my parents ward in Houston, the nursery leader approached me apologetically and explained she had been calling my daughter by the wrong name. She said that Abigail kept saying to her my name is not Abigail it's Ariel. I told the nursery leader her name was truly Abigail. Then, when we went to Disney World last summer she became enchanted with Sleeping Beauty, and guess what she was this year for Halloween. She is always asking Bart which princess is his favorite and every time he answers Belle. Well, I was perusing my frequently visited blogs and saw a friend had this quiz on her blog. I took the quiz, and guess who I was...that's right...Belle. I guess Bart and I are a match made in animation as well. :D

You Are Belle!

Intelligent and kind. Your beauty goes much further than your apperance. Also, you make judgements of people based on their personality and not their looks. Attaining all the knowledge that you can is one of your major goals in life, but you are also a person who can make things happen.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

My Annalyn

2008-05-23T07:51:00.001-07:00

My little Annalyn is growing up so fast. Her vocabulary is expanding especially using the word "no." Her favorite person to play with is Abigail. She is always so excited to pick Abigail up at preschool and she runs to her and puts her arm around her and leans her head on her shoulder, while Abigail is sitting at the work table. Abigail always greets her warmly with hugs and kisses and introduces her to the other kids at the table. Everyone knows Annalyn's name. They love to play together. The other day, while at the park the girls were playing together. No other children were there at the time and the girls were happy pushing each other on the swing and Abigail helping Annalyn up the big slide. After awhile some other children arrived and Abigail ran over to one of the girls that looked her same age and tapped her on the shoulder and said "Do you want to be my friend." The little girl replied with and enthusiastic "yes" and the ran off together hand in hand. Meanwhile Annalyn did not like that her sister was running away. She called after her and ran to keep up. When she finally caught up to them she immediately had a smile on her face and put her hand in Abigail's and leaned on her arm chuckling. Then the girls wanted to run again and Annalyn called after her and became distressed. When she caught up to them Abigail was on her knees and Annalyn put her arm around her and leaned her head on Abigail's and smiled and chuckled. This went on a few more times until Annalyn finally had enough and pulled Abigail's hand and swatted at the other girl with the determined "go away" look. Abigail hugged her and they all sat under the playground equipment playing "dogs."
I am glad they are good little friends.

They have their moments too. When Annalyn gets angry she likes to pinch. It is really funny to watch. Her eyes get wide and she digs into your skin with her fingers all the while her head is shaking in these small but rapid movements. Sometimes I catch the girls going at it and I have to hide my laughter as I am breaking them apart. Annalyn is pretty feisty and it is usually Abigail in tears.

Annalyn for the past few months has been using her little training potty. I just can't believe how fast she is growing up. But I guess if she can be potty trained by the time she turns two then that wouldn't be so bad. She also loves to go in my little convertible, we take the kids for a ride and Annalyn will not get out, she holds her buckles so we can't undo them. She also has her favorite books. I will tell her to go and get one of them and she will find it in the bookshelf amongst the others and pull it out. She knows what is coming next and will say the word that accompanies the next picture. Ah, my sweet baby.

My Abigail

2008-05-08T09:03:00.001-07:00

My Abigail, what a joy. She will be turning five this month, and during the month of April she would ask every day what the day was and then when it finally hit May 1, she said "Yea, it is my Birthday Month!" Well she has been using that line in everything. The other day, I wanted to go out to eat and she triumphantly presumed: "it is my birthday month, so I get to pick and I want to go to to the Chuck-a-rama" Bart and I both just started laughing, I don't know when the last time we went to Chuck's but Abigail had a great memory of all the foods on the buffet. So we decided to go there to eat. She was such a big girl taking care of her own plate and and using her good manners, she reminded us of that periodically throughout dinner. She is always proud to show off her good manners. Last week we went out with my grandparents to dinner, she was so cute when she pulled out the chairs for my grandparents. She wanted to sit next to Penman (what she calls my grandma) and my grandma started up a game with her. She had Abigail close her eyes as she put food in her mouth and had Abigail guess what it was she was eating. Abigail loved it, and it was a great way for her to eat more of her vegetables!

She is so funny. Lately she has been dressing pretty outrageously, mixing and matching clothes and colors. I don't mind, I think she is being pretty creative. Bart doesn't agree. We did, however, make one compromise. That she can wear whatever she wants to preschool, but I have to ok what she wears anywhere else, she agreed. Well one day, she wanted to wear her shirt backwards to preschool. When I dropped her off, I told one of her teachers that her shirt is on backwards at her own request and that I am not loosing it as a mom and forgot how to dress my kid. Well when I came to pick her up I noticed her shirt was right side. I said "Oh great you decided to turn your shirt around" and then the teachers told me that Miss Jessica made her turn her shirt around because all the kids wanted to turn their shirt backwards. I just laughed. Silly Abigail.

Hawaii: Day Four

2008-05-07T14:07:00.000-07:00

Our final day was spent visiting Pearl Harbor. The memorial was really neat and I loved the artifact collection. It was surreal to be reading letters written days before the attack and to see clothing and other memorabilia. We watched a movie that explained a lot of what happened during those infamous hours. The memorial itself was peaceful and a profound feeling of respect filled my soul as I looked at the giant wall covered with the names of the fallen and entombed beneath my feet. I really enjoyed walking around history. Afterwards we went to the Aloha Towers shopping center and found a few must haves to take home and to walk around. We drove around awhile and then headed to the airport. We thought we would go early and eat at a restaurant at the airport, but alas no restaurant...cold sandwiches and macadamia nut ice cream. I had the most enjoyable trip, it was greatly needed and really appreciated. There is a special place reserved for Hawaii, I can't wait to take my family there one day. Thank you Carly for allowing me to have this experience. Renewed soul and stronger sisterhood, who could ask for anything more!

Hawaii: Day Three

2008-05-02T14:09:00.000-07:00

This was the day I almost died...well not quite, but it was pretty nerve wracking nonetheless. We drove up the coast to the North Shore to Waimea Bay. While we drove our little chevy colbalt along the coast, we listened to all the island music Carly burned onto our vacation CD's. We stopped at a roadside stand and purchased fresh cut pineapple and haupia pie and a Coconut drink, which did not taste that great. The surf was really high that day and the patrons were advised not to go into the water unless you were a good swimmer. Well I didn't think the waves were all that high so I grabbed a reluctant Carly and headed to the shoreline. We let the waves crash up onto our legs and bury them in the sand. Well the waves got higher and Carly let out a scream to run, well my legs being burried and all and Carly's death grip on my hand pulling me up the hill... I fell over as the wave hit and as I got up to run up the hill the water was rolling back down the hill along with another woman, who crashed into me and we both went tumbling into the ocean. I managed to get up again and run up the hill before the second wave hit. It was quite the thrill, but my love affair with sand ended as it was coated over my entire body. That night we met up with Carly's friend Mike and had pineapple hamburgers , yummy, and had the famous Matsumoto's shaved ice.

Hawaii: Day Two

2008-05-01T08:07:00.000-07:00

We stayed at the beautiful Hilton on Waikiki Beach. Since Bart travels a lot he had quite a few Hilton Honors points and so we were able to have two free nights stay. The hotel was amazing and beautiful. Since Bart is a premier member we were given an executive suite on the 34th floor. And with the executive suit we had access to the executive lounge where they served breakfast in the morning and hot appetizers at night. That was so nice, we only had to pay for one meal a day. Day two we spent all day at Waikiki beach, walking along the shore, swimming, sunbathing. It was a fabulous day to decompress and read a good book.

View from the balcony. While we were in the room we always had the balcony door open and there was always a cool breeze blowing over us. I was amazed at how wonderful the air smelled in Hawaii. The sun would rise over the mountain and wake us each morning and there was always a dense fog that blanketed the city in the early morning hours while the city was peacefully sleeping.

The hotel courtyard, there was a wedding on our last day out near the pond. You can't tell in this picture but the pond had the biggest fish I have ever seen, I could see them quite clearly from our room.

Ahhh, the beach the day was warm the sand was soft and the water was clear. We swam out to a little stone wall and took along Carly's waterproof camera. When you stood on the wall it looked as if you were walking on water. We could also see little fish swimming around our toes while we stood on the wall, that started to creep me out after awhile and we went back to swimming and riding the waves back to shore.

After we cleaned up at the hotel we went to Duke's restaurant and barefoot bar. We had a table on the balcony that overlooked the beach. I had the Duke style Mahi Mahi and we enjoyed the great salad bar. Afterwards, we walked through the international market and bought all our souvenirs. Carly bought the cutest coconut purse that I wish now I had gotten one. She said she saw one while she was in Jamaica last year and wished she would have bought one then. Now, I am the one wishing and now she is in the Caribbean again and she can't be reached by phone. Oh well, I guess I will have to go back. :D I got the girls the cutest Hawaiian dresses. Abigail wanted to wear hers the Sunday I got back, even though it was snowy and cold.

Hawaii: Day One

2008-04-28T12:50:00.001-07:00

My dear blogger readers, So begins my story of Hawaii. It was the most amazing trip I have ever been on and so relaxing. My first trip away from my kids, my first trip with my sister Carly, just the two of us. This is how it started, it was all last minute (the best kind of trip). Carly received two tickets to anywhere in the United States from her work. She was going with a friend, who backed out two weeks before. I really wanted to go and all I had to do was to get myself to Houston, hey not a bad trade off for a free ticket to Hawaii. A free first class ticket to Hawaii. Yea, I flew first class. Carly and I were astonished and the size of the chairs, the pillows the quilts, every little thing. We were so gitty with excitement over all the little details. From the chair laying into a bed, to the constant service of drinks and food, hot towels and the movies we watched while we reclined with our feet up covered in a blanket, it was a fabulous way to fly!!
They brought us a menu of what we would be served. Salad with choice of dressing, lasagna or salmon. Ice cream with all the toppings you could think of, a light little snack of fruit and gourmet cheeses, warm nuts and a constant supply of beverages.
The Hawaiian temple was the most serene and beautiful place we visited. It was so quite and smelled so good. I loved all the water features, the fountains looked like they were running right into the ocean.

After the temple we went to the Polynesian Cultural center and took the guided tour through the park, it was absolutely splendid. It was a great way to see the representation of all the different islands, and to gain appreciation for the beautiful people and their unique cultures that vary from island to island. The dancing was my favorite to watch, they were simply splendid to behold. I was a little taken back by the New Zealand dancers when they were sticking out their tongues, I admit I was a little frightened, but I guess that is the point since they did that to scare their enemies during battle. We also got to partake in the games of each island, to dance with balls on string (I forgot the name) and to spear toss. That was my favorite, since I was the only one who was able to throw the spear and hit the target, yea me! Alas no picture to see me in my glory, only the memory.

That Evening was an incredible luau with all authentic food from the Polynesian islands, completely with a roasted pig. Carly and I decided to share a pina colada-pineapple smoothie. It came in a hollowed out pineapple, every thing was delicious. That night we watched the Horizons show...fantastic. I didn't get any pictures of the show, they turned out really fuzzy....Carly on the other hand had a camera that took beautiful pictures, so I will have to get it from her. It was a beautiful way to spend our first day in Hawaii.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things: Hawaii

2008-04-12T17:04:00.001-07:00

My first full day in Hawaii we went to the LDS temple and the sister missionary handed us a plumeria flower to put in my hair. I have seen them in pictures but never smelled one for myself. The scent was heavenly and it became my favorite. While at the Polynesian Cultural Center My sister and I saw you could pick your own oyster with a pearl inside. I picked one and a beautiful champagne mother of pearl became mine. I then looked in the jewelry case and saw the plumeria pendant much like this one (mine is only slightly different) and knew it would be something to treasure for the rest of my life and always remind me of my fabulous trip. So they mounted the pearl in the middle of my plumeria pendant. My sister, she opened up to find a black pearl, with a purple tint...amazing! She had hers set in a ring which symbolized the ocean waves. Since, we bought jewelry the told us we could open up a second oyster. Carly received a pink pearl, gorgeous! And when I tapped the shell three times and said "Aloha" I welcomed two pearls out of my oyster, which is really rare. I think I will have them made into earrings. This is my favorite treasure from Hawaii.

I loved these kukui nut bracelets, really adorable and can work with any outfit. I bought a brown bracelet and a matching necklace. They represent good fortune.

How can you go to Hawaii and not have chocolate macadamia nuts. Well, Hawaiian Host was my favorite brand. I brought a huge box home, which is now half eaten and I told Bart we have to save them...then I looked online and they have a website you can order from, don't you love the Internet. Now you don't have to go to Hawaii to enjoy a little piece of it.

So, These are a few of my favorite things from beautiful Hawaii.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

2008-04-12T16:45:00.001-07:00

Since Summer is just around the corner I thought I would give you a couple of my favorite things I have in my summer collection. I bought these a couple weeks ago for my trip to Hawaii and I loved having them. They were essential to my wardrobe. Both items are from J. Crew, the flip flops were the ultimate comfy shoe and I wore them every day (I bought a red pair too.) An added bonus, they didn't take up to much space in my suitcase and were easy to take off at the airport. The hat...oh I love my hat!! It protected my face from the sun and was so much cooler to wear than a cloth baseball cap. It traveled nicely as well, I could shove it in my bag when we went indoors. These are just a few of my favorite things.

Anjo de luz

2008-04-09T21:21:00.001-07:00

Misty Scivally 1979-2008

A dear friend of ours, Misty, passed away last month and I wanted to take a moment to honor her and what she meant to me and our family. Misty is a beautiful person inside and out and has a creative intellegance that I found so awe inspiring. I remember the first day I met her. We had just purchased our home and went to our new ward. I was pregnant with Abigail and wanted to make new mommy friends. Misty was my first friend, she and her husband Shawn and daughter came up to us in church. Misty's hair was so beautiful, long curly and white. She also had on the coolest knee high boots I had ever seen. After we parted, I told Bart, "she and I will be friends." We grew together as families. Shawn and Misty were the first to invite us over to their home for dinner. Their home was warm and inviting and very stylish, I remember thinking we had the same taste. I thought their purple bedroom was very chic and was floored when I commented on a neat looking armoire in their living room that Misty had made it from wood pallets!

She had an incredible gift that way, by turning one man's junk into her beautiful treasures. She told us how they would find pieces on the side of the road and come home and remake them. I was inspired and wanted to learn how she did that. We went together, walkie-talkie's in hand looking for undiscovered treasures. When Bart and I came across something, I would immediately call Misty and tell her...I wanted her to be proud of me. And she was always excited for me.

Excited for me...about everything I shared with her. I could confide in her and she was always so reassuring that I could do it. The last time I saw Misty I told her of another venture I wanted to do. She 100% gave me the go ahead and imagined the end result with me as we talked. Sadly that project has yet to be completed. So, to honor her I will be doing that project-it's a secret. I will announce it when I am finished, but it is quite the undertaking so it will be awhile. Sadly, I have really come to grips that life is too short and we have to live in the now and not dream of tomorrow. Make your dreams a possibility now and live life to the fullest and have fun.

Have Fun...we had some fun times before she moved to Ohio. My first trip to Hogle Zoo was with Misty, feeding the ducks at the park, and having movies in our backyard.

Misty is in heaven, probably giving it a chic new make-over and giving her light, her encouragement, her beauty, her heart and soul to the people there with her. She is giving all to the work Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have given her and keeps watch over all those she loves and who love her in return.

Easter

2008-03-31T12:56:00.001-07:00

We had a fun Easter weekend. We had a primary activity Saturday morning with all the Primary kids, my first as the president. It turned out really well and I think the kids had a good time. We went downtown to the distribution center, looking for the movie Easter Dream to have the primary kids watch during sharing time. The kids have never been so quiet, even the sunbeams as they watched this beautiful movie on the ressurection and plan of salvation. The spirit was so strong in the primary room that day. We walked around temple square and all the flowers are looking so beautiful. We had lunch at the Lion House and then ran more errands. Grandma Leslie bought these cute little Easter cookies for the girls, they look too cute to eat...Annalyn didn't think so, she dug right in and licked off all the frosting.

Coloring Easter eggs was a highlight of the Easter Eve. Bart really gets into the coloring spirit and has the girls do lots of different techniques. It was funny to watch Annalyn, she like to drop them into the cups and one on top of another. She would say "woooo" after Abigail or Daddy would take the egg out of the dye. Abigail got really creative with her eggs and became quite attached. She refuses to eat her favorites. She says they are too beautiful to eat and will only eat them on her birthday, which is in May. Yeah...I don't think they will last that long.
Bright and early Easter morning we had a mini hunt and the Easter bunny left some fun baskets.
After church we went to the Muga and Papa Robison's house and had a outdoor egg hunt with the cousins. Afterwards, Papa gave the kids a ride in the giant wagon.

The day concluded with dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Penman with Grandma Leslie and the the rest of the Penman family. Grandma Penman had a cute little table set for the girls. Their favorite part of the dinner was the mushroom soup...go figure. Abigail told every one an Easter story about the colors found in the Easter basket and how they represent the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was a memorable weekend.

Where the Wild Things Are

2008-03-25T13:45:00.001-07:00

Abigail's preschool had an in-class field trip last week. The Wild Things group came and brought some interesting animals; snakes, a parrot, a lizard, and a bunch of other wild animals. My favorite, and Abigail's favorite was the hedgehog, it was so cute. We all got to pet them, even Annalyn wasn't afraid to touch the animals. My camera battery died so I only got the one shot. Grandma Leslie was in town for the week and got to come with us to the presentations, I will have to get copies from her.

Wedding Bells

2008-03-25T13:03:00.001-07:00

Bart's baby sister Julia was married to Dustin Halliday on March 12 in the Timpanogas LDS temple. While we were at the temple my good friend Jen took the girls to the Farm at Thanksgiving point, thank you thank you Jen. We all met Julia after her beautiful ceremony outside and took pictures. Abigail felt so special as Julia handed her her bouquet outside the temple to hold. A few memories I will never forget are: When the temple officiator pointed to Dustin and Julia's hands and told them never to let go, and when times become hard they can make it through it if they never let go. I will also never forget how sad Abigail was that she didn't catch Julia's bouquet, it was quite funny actually I have never seen her get so upset, but she was quickly happy when I pulled a rose out of the centerpiece at the table and told her it was hers. I will also never forget Abigail and Annalyn dancing. Abigail is dancing with her cousin Kaitlyn in one of the above pictures. I also gave Abigail the assignment of taking the gifts when guests came in and placing them on the table. She was so cute as she would great each guest with, "May I take your gift" and she would bounce off happy as a lark.

Congratulations Julia and Dustin!

Abigail's Solo

2008-03-25T12:56:00.001-07:00

Abigail had her first solo concert a few weeks ago. Her teacher divided her students between two days and they performed a solo for the audience. Isn't Abigail so cute with her little violin. She is the youngest of all the students. She had been working really hard on her Twinkles and did a great job. I think I was more nervous than she was, she got up on that stage like a pro and played her song and did a fantastic job. I am so proud of her. Now we are working on pieces for her fiddle concert coming up in the summer.

A Day with Dinosaurs

2008-03-25T12:29:00.002-07:00

oh my oh my oh DINOSAUR...

We took a family field trip with our good friends the Jensen's to the Dinosaur Museum. The exhibits were really amazing, perhaps a little too amazing since Abigail was scared of them. Annalyn and the boys on the other hand thought it was pretty cool. Both the girls enjoyed all the hands projects they had throughout the museum. They liked coloring dinosaurs, they created their own plush dinosaur, played on the computer, became archeologist's and dug up dinosaur bones, and then played in the sand and water creating their own dinosaur land. The Daddies I think had more fun then the kids playing in this area of the museum, reeking havoc on all the plastic dinosaurs.

2008-03-25T12:29:00.001-07:00

Creative Day

2008-03-25T12:19:00.001-07:00

Bart took a buisness trip to California, where his conference was right across the street from Disney Land. After the conference he went to Downtown Disney and bought the girls a few prizes. One of which were these crayons shaped like the Disney princesses. The girls thought they were so neat and colored and colored. They actually colored every page in the coloring book But stopped long enough to say "cheese" to the camera.

These are a few of my favorite things

2008-03-09T18:22:00.001-07:00

Oprah use to have a show all about her favorite things and I thought that would be fun to do. I would like to share with you some of my favorite things. I am going to try to give you something once a month, perhaps some of my favorites will become your favorite things.

The past few summers at the downtown farmers market there was a great booth set up were they sold journals they made out of old books. I immediately fell in love with these vintage classics and was sad when I could get them only once a year....until I found the web site: Ex Libris Anonymous. They have a great selection and I can shop all year around. These are just a couple that will be gracing my bookshelf soon.

One of my most favorite things is my petunia pickle bottom diaper bag. I wish I had found it back when Abigail was a baby. I love it because it not only can be a bag, but a back pack...and with two kids two hands come in very handy, especially while shopping. It is not too big and not too small. It also has a changing pad built in. The front of the bag unzips and folds out into a nice little pad, with diapers secured in a little pouch. The pad can also come off and be washed. It has side pockets perfect for the water bottle and a clip inside to hold your keys. It is very durable, Bart gave me it last mothers day and it has been every where: Disney World, the park, the zoo etc. and it still looks like new. The best part...it is so adorable. I feel like a very chic mama carrying it around. For those of you who just have and are having a little bundle, this bag is worth every penny!!!

I've been double tagged.

2008-03-09T15:03:00.002-07:00

Ten Years Ago I was:
A Senior in High School, in Littleton Colorado.

Five things on my to do list:
1. Email my presidency, I am the new primary president (I am not sure what the bishopric was thinking).
2. Finish Organizing the kids playroom.
3. Practice violin with Abigail.
4. Find shoes for me and the girls for Aunt Julia's wedding.
5. Register Abigail for a ballet class

5 jobs I've had:
1. Nanny
2. Lab Tech at a Pediatric Dentist/Orthodontist in High School
3. Orthodontic Assistant
4. Dental Assistant
5. Substitute Teacher

If I suddenly became a Billionaire what would I do?
I wouldn't tell anybody, it would be my little secret. :D I would buy a house in the upper Avenues overlooking the city, a cabin at bear lake and an awesome boat. I would take my family on a six month trip around the world. Start a scholarship for promising literary students. Have Bart begin his dream of owning his own company. And oh so much more...it is fun to day dream.

7 Things I Love Today

1. I love my Hubby, and my little chillens. They bring so much joy and laughter in my life and I thank God for allowing them to be mine.

2. I love my friends. I love reading their blogs, going out with them (the tea party was a blast), and talking with them. They are some of the smartest women I know and I learn so much from their life experiences.

3. I love that the talk I gave in church today is OVER. I loved my topic, "I am a Child of God."

4. I love that it is girl scout cookie time...mmmm. I love all things sweet, like pastries from the bakery, Aunt Linette's chocolate cake, Megan's mint brownies and Sarah's chocolate chip cookies, Peggy's eclairs and my Mom's raspberry blondies and Grandma Robison's apple pie.

5. I love that the weather is warming up and new life is being seen throughout town. I can't wait to plant my own flowers this spring.

6. I love living downtown and being close to so many fun things. Too many to list. But, for those of you who come to Salt Lake, I can take you to some really memorable places. Secret places. I discover new places all the time.

7. I love reading. I haven't been able to do as much as I would like, Bart gets more time than I do on all his business trips and on the bus to and from work...I am jealous, he is ahead of me in all the new books we have gotten. Which reminds me I have a few book reviews to post.

And I love blogging.....I tag Jamie, Kristalyn, Linsi, Amy and Elizabeth pick which ever one you would like.

I

2008-03-09T15:03:00.001-07:00