Pigtails and Muddy Piggies

Emerie gets to sport a new hair do on occasion these days (if I can get her to sit still for a moment). She looks so cute and grown up in her piggy tails. She is such a sweet girl. They other day when Jake was leaving to work she said, "Bye daddy, I love you!" She has said bye daddy before but that was the first time she said I love you, it just melted my heart!

Madison loves water, especially water and mud! She helps us water the plants and it isn't long before everyone is wet and Madison is muddy. There's nothing like sinking your toes in some gooey squishy mud!

Dressing up with friends!

Madison loves to dress up. Whenever we have friends over to play it isn't long before I get to see some very cute imaginations at work. One of Madison's friends, Ethan, was determined to turn Madison's princess dress ups into a prince outfit. He did a very good job and Madison was happy to ride alongside him on her horse. Another day when he came over in his Spiderman outfit and Snowwhite and Spiderman were able to go to the park in style! Such cute friends and so much fun!

Camping Attempt #1

Jake and I love to camp. This summer we tried to convince the girls that they like to camp too. In the end I think we succeeded however a few times I almost changed my mind about liking camping. Camping with kids is a whole new experience. Last year we did it once and it went so well we thought we would have an easy time this year.

So, our first attempt was the weekend after getting back from Utah. I think that is where we went wrong. The girls were still off schedule and it was still really hot and humid. Things were great and we had a lot of fun until it was time to get the girls to sleep. Madison and Emerie kept waking each other up and it wasn't until at least 2:30 that we were able to convince Madison that sleeping was a good idea. And... we felt so refreshed to wake up at 6:30 in the morning to the sounds of chirping birds (especially the one that sounded like a car alarm ;).

We were all very tired that next morning and packed up pretty quickly before the girls (and Jake) had too many meltdowns. The picture of Madison cheesing it is her over tired face. Both girls were laughing and giggling out of control which is a sign of the "calm before the storm". The beyond tired silly "drunk" phase before the crash and meltdown.

Camping Attempt #2

Two weeks later we were brave enough to attempt our camping trip #2. We went camping at the same place so Jake told me I didn't need to print out any directions. I know now to print them off and put them in my back pocket "just in case". So... we got a little lost which wouldn't be so bad if I didn't get car sick. Hocking Hills fits its name. There are lots of hills and curvy roads. It didn't take more than a few missed turns before I was feeling awful. Luckily we had a few bags to hold the gallon that didn't want to stay in my stomach any longer. It was classic, the girls were done with driving, crying, Jake was lost, and I was puking. Finally I said, "Jake, don't drive anymore until you know where you are going!" We finally make it and luckily everything else went really well.

We had a great campfire dinner, got the girls to bed without too much trouble. It helped that I didn't let Jake tell Madison stories of ghosts and bats like last time (even though she requested it again). Then we were able to play some fun games around the campfire with the grownups and stayed up until two in the morning by our choice this time:)
The next morning the girls explored, Emerie loved throwing rocks with the boys, and we were all able to go on a hike to a really cool cave. We saw a really big snake on the hike and Madison loved the hike since she is amazed by bats.

Camping Hiking

Here are the pictures of our hike to the cave. Madison loved the cave since she has been very curious and amazed by bats. We didn't see any bats but there was a really big snake on the trail.

Belated Four Year Aniversary Post

Back on June 13th we celebrated our four year anniversary! Oh how time flys! We look so young in these pictures! The first one is our engagement picture and the rest are from our wedding day.

For our anniversary we went out to dinner at a place called Cap City Dinner and ate some really yummy food. The waiter even gave us two huge pieces of amazing chocolate cake at no cost. We were so full that we put them in the fridge for later and I think I ended up eating almost all of them (thanks sweetie). There's been a few times when I've eaten more than my share of sweets when chocolate is involved. Jake never lets me forget that one summer I ate an entire box of thin mints before he had a chance to eat one (he must have been out of town).

I am reminded daily of how lucky I am to be married to Jake! He is always doing kind thoughtful things for me and making sure I get a break from the business of motherhood. My last night in Utah this last trip I was really missing Jake. So... right before I went to bed I sent him a cute little romantic text. I knew Jake was driving back home after his flight from Guatemala and I knew he was alone (not that anyone else ever reads his texts anyway). However, little did I know, he had decided to take home three extra people from the airport. So... when I sent him my text, and he was driving, he had the guy sitting next to him read it out loud for him (reading texts while driving is a no no of course). Oh yes, there were quite a few chuckles as Jake's face blushed a few shades of red. Luckily for me, these people live a few hours away and I don't think I will ever meet them. However, Jake has learned his lesson never to let friends read his texts, especially when they are from your wife that you haven't seen in two weeks and it's really late at night;)

Jake, thanks for being such a wonderful husband and for helping me laugh through life's crazy and embarrassing moments!

Why is the sky blue?

A few weeks ago I was able to go out with a friend and take some fun pictures of the girls. Despite needing to learn my camera better I was still able to capture some cute shots. As I say in almost every post, the girls are just growing up so fast!
Madison loves to ask questions. The other day she asked the classic kid question, "Why is the sky blue?" I told her about how blue is a beautiful calm color and how Heavenly Father wanted they sky blue so we could feel peace when we looked at it. Jake told me that he would have talked about the atmosphere, nitrogen... and given a very scientific answer. Madison I am sure would have made up her own answer if she didn't like either one. When she was little she would ask what color something was but would already be determined to call it pink, even if I said blue. Madison absolutely loves to drink Ovaltine and she has decided that if milk comes from cows Ovaltine comes from horses. She says that mommy horses feed their baby horses Ovaltine. What a funny girl!

Emerie is Madison's little shadow these days and she is our little climber. I have walked into the kitchen to find her on top of the table, yikes! We don't want to pay any visits to the ER even though we might get a chance to see daddy:) This morning she saw Madison pull a chair over to help me make pancakes. She then grabbed another chair and pulled it over to the counter so she could climb up too. She is much too little to be trusted standing on anything. Chair scooting opens a whole new world of mischief. Let's hope she forgets the possibilities and new freedoms opened up to her by tomorrow! Whenever she climbs up on something or is proud of something she has done she yells,"I did it!" It's very cute! And... when you catch her in something she shouldn't be doing she gives a sly smile and says, "Hi!" as if to change the subject and distract us from what she is doing.
Both girls have loved being home with Jake again and not a day goes by that they don't run and climb on him yelling ,"Daddy, daddy, daddy, horsey ride!" When Jake is gone Emerie will often yell, "Daddy, where are you?" or "Where daddy go?" It's very cute! When I say I love my girlies! Madison reminds me that they're, "Daddy's girlies, not mommies!" Yep Jake has tagged that phrase for sure. We love our sweet little girls!

Utah Trip!

Last week I ventured out to Utah, flying by myself with both girls (ages 2 and 15 months) to surprise my older sister Becky. She was expecting her fourth and it was fun to be there with the family when little McKay arrived.

The girls did surprisingly well and we didn't have any major breakdowns! When the plane took off both girls yelled WEEEEEEEE, giving everyone a good laugh. Emerie was a little wiggly at first but once she realized getting off my lap wasn't an option then things went a lot better. And... amazingly enough all three of us fit in an airplane bathroom. Emerie of course had a messy diaper on the last leg of the flight when the fasten seatbelt sign was on. Whenever I askthe flight attendant if I can change the diaper they always say, "You gotta do what you gotta do." I think they don't mind us risking unknown turbulence rather than have everyone around me endure the smell.

We arrived in Utah late afternoon and went over to Becky's later in the day when she was out running an errand. We hid in my niece's room and when Becky got home Kensie told her mom she had a surprise for her. She was very excited to see us and very surprised!

On our trip we were able to celebrate not only the birth of baby McKay but four other family birthdays and my sister Emily got engaged while I was there. Emerie figured out how to sing Happy, happy, happy, and learned how to stuff chocolate cake up her nose. It was great to have an explanation to the brown stuff still coming out of her nose the next morning. Madison loved dancing, dressing up, reading stories and the pizza play place we went to for Kensie's b-day. She wanted to ride the carousel over, and over and over. She must not have my motion sickness gene because I got dizzy just watching her. They also had a great time at the glow in the dark golf course!

Both girls loved waking up at my moms house to find lots of friends and their cat to play with. Emerie chased the cat everywhere and learned how to climb on the couch yelling, "I did it!" as she grabbed the cat's tail in his favorite resting spot. Most of my siblings are still at home so the girls were completely spoiled with with lots of attention! The girls loved having tea parties with my mom and Madison loved reading the Nurse Nancy book with my dad. Emerie was pretty nervous about new people and grumpy to almost everyone. She warmed up the quickest to my dad and loved giving high fives to Jefferey.

Madison had her first sleepover with her cousins, slept through the night and didn't notice that I wasn't there when she woke up. Emerie stayed just for movie night and discovered how much fun it was to feed everyone Kix. You couldn't "fake eat" with Emmie, she made sure the Kix were all the way in your mouth.

And of course, summer in Utah wouldn't be complete without a few trips to grandma and grandpa Cumming's pool. We can never get enough of grandma's cookies, splashing in the pool, and spending time with grandma and grandpa "Pocco" (nick named after their dog). Madison loved relaxing after pool time in front of Mary Poppins and Emerie loved looking for pocco. Madison and Emerie were fearless in the water and loved jumping off the side of the pool. It definitely kept me on my toes.

Utah Trip with the Snows!

Jake's parents were up at Snowbird when we arrived in Utah so we were able to go up a few times and enjoy the beautiful mountain scenery. It is so nice to see mountains again and breath some beautiful mountain air! The girls loved the summer activities they had at Snowbird. Both Emerie and Madison spent lots of time in the bouncy house castle and Madison loved sliding down the big slide.

They had a great time running across bridges and playing at the playground with the Snow cousins.

Mana (Grandma Snow) played cards with the kids and read them lots of stories. Grandpa loved teasing them and making them laugh, even when the were grumpy from too much playing;) I was a very brave mother and let Madison go up the lift with Uncle Brian and down the Alpine slide with Grandpa. Madison of course loved it!

We all took a trip up the gondola (very scary for someone afraid of heights) to enjoy the very hight beautiful view on top. I did notice in the picture of us with the stroller that Madison is pulling Emerie's hair. What cute sisterly love:)

We were able to celebrate Mana's birthday and spend a day at Utah's zoo. Emerie loved the bird show and said whoa to everything she saw. Madison however had reached her over tired threshold at the beginning of the show so I quietly gave her a few contraband fun fruits that were illegal during such a show. Luckily none of the birds dove done for an extra treat and I was able to avoid a full on tantrum during a show where you must remain seated and can not leave.

Madison was able to show her full tiredness after the carousel ended and she didn't want to get off. You can see her sadness in the picture to the left. Emerie of course imitates everything Madison does and since Madison was crying, she started to cry too. Luckily crying kids at a zoo isn't too uncommon and I was able to calm them both after a few minutes.

Madison loved playing with her grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncle's and friends. She told me she didn't want to leave Utah and that she didn't miss her dad. However, when she saw Jake at the airport she ran as fast as she could yelling "Daddy, daddy!" and gave him the cutest tightest squeeze for a long time. We always miss everyone when we leave but it's always good to be back home. Thanks to everyone for spoiling us rotten and giving us so many fun memories!