Swimming

After church we went swimming at our town's new Aquaplex. The girls have been begging to go for weeks now, so today was the day! Here are our little tadpoles!

The slides are their favorite part. Rayna just barrels down them, there is no stopping her!

Rayna is working on stopping up the fountain.

Family Weekend

Because I still have a bad case of spring fever, we tried to get out of our cold weather and travel south again to some warmer air. It wasn't as nice as last weekend, but it was still better than Flagstaff. We went to Red Rock Crossing and spent the day picnicking, hiking, rock throwing, tree climbing, and rock collecting. One of the bummer points of this spot is that many others find it a very "spiritual place", and decide to build these things called vortexes (ie stacking rocks on top of each other). Every time we go I try to knock down as many as I can, I feel like its me knocking down the asherpoles like in the old testament! I also enjoy seeing nature as God intended and not a people make it. It's pretty sickening to me and just puts knots in my stomach. Anyways, this time the girls had a hay day at knocking them over! I couldn't have had better helpers! When do they ever get to be so destructive! We ended our trip with a stop a DQ to top off our day with ice cream!

My destroyers!


My rock thrower.

"I can see the world up here!"

Crafts!

My girls truly believe that when the get to do a special craft they are being spoiled! It is both of their favorite things to do! So, today I came across these free birdhouses and the girls had at them painting them up! They were in heaven and then were very sad when they were done because the wanted more! (Looks like I still have some lessons to teach!)

Off in their own lands!
Their finished product!

Beautiful Weather in the Red Rocks!

Last weekend the girls and I went down to Red Rock State Park and met my parents for a picnic and some nice weather, (Daniel had to work). The girls became Junior Buddy Rangers and got to where a cool badges, and I just enjoyed being outdoors in 70 degree weather (I have spring fever like no other!) It was actually kind of exciting to see how well the girls did hiking! It is giving me high hopes for the summer! Granted we won't be doing in backpacking, but little level hikes with long breaks I think are doable for them (mainly Rayna). The girls loved throwing rocks into the river bed and being the leader on the hike! My parents ended up taking the girls home with them for a few days because Daniel and I both had to work, but we also ended up with quite a bit of free time that we are not use too! It was nice! It's funny how I get so excited about the thought of the extra free time, but when push comes to shove, I'm always sad to have them leave me. But there is definitely something to be said about that whole "absence makes the heart grow founder" thing. Them being gone makes me treasure every moment I have with them and it makes me desire to be a better mom to them. So, I guess its healthy after all.

Eating lunch

Silly Girls!

My girls!

My Rock Throwers!

Grandma's chillin out!

My little hikers!

Cold City!

Sorry I haven't posted much lately, we have been dealing with sickness, sickness, sickness!!! Between are family in the last 3 weeks we have had 4 nasty colds, 1 ear infection, 1 case of the stomach bug, and 1 tear duct infection! I can tell you I'm done! I am currently dreaming of summer months when we are all healthy! So, forgive me for my slacking and hopefully this next week I will be better. I'm just waiting on Rayna to get better know!

Kids Say the Darnedess Things

The other night while putting the girls to bed I was privileged to have some interesting conversations with them.

Convo #1

Rayna is quite observant and very interested in new things. I have had a revolving wardrobe lately due to my expanding waistline, including my pj's. So, needless to say, I was wearing a new pair of pj's that Rayna had not seen. As I'm leaning over to pray with her, she starts to tug on my shirt and says, "Is this a jacket or something?"

I say, "No, its just a shirt. It's kinda like one with all the buttons."

Rayna proceeds to try to unbutton my shirt.

I say, "Rayna, don't unbutton it. I need it on."

Rayna says, "Why?"

"If I don't have my shirt on then my tummy will show and so will my boobies, and they need to be covered up."

Rayna's response, "I don't have any boobies."

I reply, "You do, there just little right now. When you get to be a big girl like Mommy then you will have more."

Rayna's reply, "Yeah, and my boobies will be bigger than yours!"

Laughing, I say, "I hope so."

Convo #2

Before starting to pray with Taylin, she tells me that she wants to pray for the baby and that he will come and stay with us and not go to heaven (Something she has been worried about since we found out the baby is boy). So, I say okay and we start to pray. When I prayed for that, I asked God to keep the baby healthy and help him to grow strong, and when it was time for him to come that we would be able to bring him home with us. Well, that was not good enough for Taylin. She wanted me to be specific and use her words. So, I prayed again and said, "Lord please let the baby come and live with us and not go to heaven." Taylin was satisfied and felt better.

She says, "Mom, when we pray that's how we talk to God."

"Your right," I said.

"And when we ask him for things then he will just give it to us and do what we want," she replies.

"God does bless us and give us a lot things when we ask Him for them, but He still does what He wants. Sometimes that's not always what we want. Remember, we wanted Jaden to be here, but God had other plans." I tell her.

"Yeah, then we would all be here. But God loves us and He has great big arms and can give us hugs! He can get all the plants and trees and all the people and give us a hug at the same time!" she says excitedly.

"Yes, He can. He does have very big arms." I say.

"But we don't want His kisses, because He's a boy." She says.

"Of course we want God's kisses. Daddy is a boy and you like Daddy's kisses." I reply.

"But that's Daddy, we don't want Gods." She states.

"Yeah we do. God's kisses are very special." I tell her.

"But what if He has a mustache? That would be funny, then that would be yucky!" She says.

"Grandpa has a mustache, and you get kisses from him. They kind of tickle, huh?" I ask her. "Yeah," she says. At this point she seems to be off in thought and we finish our bedtime routine with a kiss goodnight from mom.

This Past Weekend

This weekend our mall had a Children's Expo and Taylin's preschool class sang a few songs. I really didn't know if she would sing with her class. At Christmas time they had a little Christmas Pageant and she bailed! So, I was afraid the same thing might happen again. However, a little bribery never hurts! The promise of candy afterwards if she did a good job, and a very relaxed setting I think helped. Rayna also helped encourage her sister by very patiently and quietly sitting through out all four songs watching her with a big smile on her face. Afterwards, Rayna grabbed Taylin's face and says, "Sissy, you did a really great job singing!"

After Taylin was done singing we went to Walmart to run some errands. Rayna has become good friends with the greeter at the back door. They are on a first name basis and he always gives the girls stickers. Rayna has come to look for him and his stickers! This time he was not at the door when we came in, and no surprise, Rayna was very disappointed. As we were checking out, he noticed the girls and came over and gave them their beloved stickers. Rayna decided to be creative and become the center of attention by placing her stickers over her eyes. Not only did she put them there, but she thought it was fun to leave them as well. She caught many eyes as she attempted to walk out to the car with them on. She was so cute and funny, how could I make her take them off?