It's Been Awhile...

It's been a fun filled summer so far. We have been gone on trips and staying busy. And I am finally getting around to blogging. Here's a few random pics of what our girls have been up to before our trips.

PEYTON:

Very much into the dressing up and saying "picture" followed by "cheese!", being Miss Independent, and still the cute sassy little thing she is that keeps me very busy. (she was so proud of herself for getting this glove on. She worked at it forever! Along with the crocs and hat.)

Still lovin the smores. We got Aaron a fire pit for Father's Day and we've loved making smores and roasting hot dogs on it. Peyton obviouly likes them. Aaron did this with the girls one night I was gone and set the tent up so they could camp in our backyard. I got a message on my way home from Hallie that said, "Mom! Freddy the frog came all the way to our house to come camping with us! (we had a frog hang out with us all night when we went camping last year, and a frog totally came in our yard and hung out with them again. Hallie was so excited!) And Peyton doesn't want to camp with us in the tent. So you are going to sleep with her inside! Okay? K, goodbye, I love you, goodbye!" I was for sure fine with that one! ha ha.

HALLIE:

Poor Hallie couldn't catch a break with her skin. It's been ring worm, then impetigo, and she had finally gotten rid of these only to have an allergic reation and look like this! She was a trooper though. This was day 2 of the rash. It was all over her entire body! Scalp, face, hand, legs, everywhere! It even got worse after I took these pictures. We are glad that all the gross skin stuff is finally gone! No more washing/changing towels, sheets, pillow cases etc. everyday and rubbing her down with creams twice a day. Yay!

Coloring, coloring, writing, and drawing. She LOVES doing these things. She is my little artist and could do this forever. I love how she likes to plop on the floor like this all the time instead of sit at the table. Peyton likes to copy her. It's fun to watch them play together.

I've got alot of catching up to do. We just got back from some fun trips and trying to get back into the swing of things. Hopefully I can post more soon before Birthdays and the 4th creep up on me! Hope you're all having a fun summer!

1 YEAR DOWN~Missing Iowa

I can't believe we have lived here an entire year!!! It's gone by so fast. In March we had some new neighbors move in and I said, "Oh, we just moved in not too long ago too." When they asked what month and I said May, they kinda looked at me weird. Then it hit me that it had definitely been longer than "not too long ago". Well, on July 1st we will have one year down of residency and a century more to go (okay 4 +1 year of fellowship but who's counting).

This time of year has got me thinking a ton about Iowa for some reason. It just seems like yesterday we graduated from Iowa, loaded up our moving truck and drove all the way to Texas. After being away for awhile, it's made me realize a few things.

Here's what I miss:

my FrIeNdS....they were like my second family and it was so hard to just one day up and leave them all. I have so many great memories with them and think about them all the time. Aaron definitely misses his too. They will definitely be lifetime friends.

Being able to WaLk to the good ol' CoRaL RiDgE Mall!!! It was perfect. I miss my mall trips with friends. Some good ol' Chick fil' A fries and DDP, Target attached, riding the carousel, Children's Musuem attached as well, play place (they hardly have any here), perusing the stores, etc. What mall has a Children's Museum, Movie theater, ice skating rink, carousel, target, best buy, Panera Bread, and some great store all in one? And within walking distance of our house! I didn't realize how good I had it!!!

SpLaSh PaD and pEd Mall

IoWa CitY LiBrArY and Coralville StOrYtImE

FaRmErS MaRkEtS and the YuMmY CorN!

Having everything SO CLOSE.

Awesome ParKs and LaKeS.

DuCk PoNdS

NaUvOo temple trips. It was cool to have this be our temple we attended. I don't miss the 1 1/2 hour drive there and back each month though.

FiReFlIeS

OuR ChUrCh WaRd

SofTbALL gAmEs (Aaron would say playing basketball too)

DaNe'S DaIrY (YUM!)

Daily Drinks at the Hy-Vee GaS sTaTiOn for SO cheap.

All the farm animals. I loved that if Hallie ever wanted to see some type of animal (cow, horse, sheep, etc) we could just drive a few minutes and know we'd always be able to see some.

The girls PeDiAtRiCiaN!!! We are yet to find a decent one here. Dr. Shaw was awesome!

I'm sure there's plenty more but my brain is fried for now.

Here's what I for sure am NOT missing:

The BuTt CoLd WiNtErS~having to bundle the kids and I up in 20 layers of clothes just to walk to our car and not be able to breath with the wind blowing in our faces. Or hearing the news warn us to not go outside for more than 20 minutes or we will get frost bite. I could go on...

(This was the inside of our window with our heater on all day non stop.)

FrEeZiNg RaIn StOrMs~ It made for some cool pictures, but that was about it. NOT fun. Chisleing inches of thick ice off our cars, etc was not fun. I have cool pics but they are on my other computer. Maybe someday I will post them. Let's just say it would explain why we were on a year waiting list to get a garage.

FlOoDs see here

ToRNadO warnings and the actual big tornado that hit us. Although I do have some pretty comical stories and memories. Loved all the phone calls from friends nearby telling me to get in the bath tub with my mattress on top of me only to see Aaron standing on the deck catching golf ball size hail and watching the tornado come. being quite entertained.

(Can you tell I hated the weather???!!!)

The ol' BuIcK ReGaL. (okay, secretly I miss it dearly j/k). Can't complain when you get a free car. We were for sure blessed. I think this is on family 5 now! ha ha. The ol' Regal just doesn't give up easily. This car gave me one of my most embarrassing stories.

(Yes, this is Aaron looking awesome with our kayak on top. He made us take this car when we'd go kayaking because he didn't want to scratch our other car. ha ha. I felt so unbelievably awesome!)

ApArTmEnT LiViNg at the Ol' Hamptons. It's so nice to have a yard now, a garage attached to the house, space, privacy, be able to do things to our house, etc. And we did have some ghetto neighbors with cops coming all the time. It was entertaining though.  I do miss the perks of having friends so close. We had some good times. But now I can vacuum at 2 in the morning and not have to worry. Or I don't have to have my friend call me and tell me she can hear me every time I pee or shower, etc. ha ha!

Trying to FLY HoMe. The closest airport cost an arm and a leg so it was a workout to try and get home. FOR sure don't miss the drives home to Utah either. Especially the one where I left the day after I got out of the hospital with Peyton.

20 minute drive to church (as long as you don't miss like the 17 lights and the train on the way)

THE PoOh PLaNt!! NASTY!!! I swear we lived by a pooh plant factory and it reeked ALL the time.

The lack of shopping options and entertainment.

We definitely have missed Iowa more than we thought we would. Probably not necessarily the state, but our lives there were great. It makes me sad that Hallie hardly remembers much or certain people and memories. It's fun to have another new adventure in Texas though and we are really enjoying it here. I could make a whole other list of likes/dislikes for here, but that will be for another day.

Fun times for the Bday

I have the best husband! He made my birthday so fun. The night before he took me down to the riverwalk for dinner. It was so yummy! We had planned to do the river boat tour, but it was closed because of the weather. bummer. Here's our one attempt to get our riverwalk pic. ha ha

On my bday, I was served breakfast in bed from Aaron and my two darlings. Hallie LOVES holidays. It's so fun to see how excited she gets. She had already planned months in advance what she wanted to get me for Mother's Day and my bday and kept her secrets quite well (even with me trying multiple times to get it out of her). She asked me numerous times what kind of cake I wanted, what kind of party I wanted, who I wanted to invite, and was very thoughtful in deciding that I'd want a princess party. I love that little girl. Aaron was so cute to take the time to help them make cards, get me flowers, make homemade handprints (I will have to take a pic. I forgot), get chocolate covered strawberries, pic me out some pretty jewelry... so sweet.

My sweet friends Ashley and Brittanie took me for a birthday lunch to Red Robin. I was so embarrased when they had the people sing to me. Ashley and Brittanie really got into it though :). I was thrilled to hear the waiter announce that I was having my 21st birthday though! ha ha.

Well Aaron could not dissapoint little Hallie, so he threw a little bbq together last minute with a few friends. It was so fun to have our good friends the Fitches come. We are thrilled that Todd and Heather are moving to Austin. Travis and Lindsey just recently moved there too and we have enjoyed getting together with them a few times. It worked out perfect that they were in San Antonio that day. We had a good time. Aaron was quite the hostess, getting everything together, cooking and even making me a bday cake and cupcakes for the kiddos. He's the best!

ahh so cute. he he.

The craziest end to the day...a snake in our bedroom!!! Seriously!!! I had just gotten out of the shower and didn't have my contacts in but thought I saw something moving across the floor by our bed. I couldn't quite make out what it was, but when I got closer and realized what it actually was, I screamed! A snake slithering across the floor!Luckily Aaron came to the rescue. We had the back door open all day with people coming in and out, I'm guessing it just slithered on in. Ewww...! I'm just glad we found it before we went to bed.

It was a fun day! I love my little family and they make life so fun. I am getting quite old in the number department, but bring it on! I'm lovin life.

Cinco Party

Our good friends the Wests had a party for Cinco De Mayo. We had so much fun. The food was amazing! I am craving those yummy homemade tortillas right now. They even had a pinata for the kids. Peyton was all over the candy once it dropped. Thanks Wests for a fun night.

Do a Little Dance #2

Hallie had another little performance. She was cute and LOVES dancing. I may be biased but I think she's a little natural. Here's some pics.

It was fun to have her friends Laney and  Pate come too.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO CLIP  (Thanks Megan)

Far Away Friend

One of my bestest friends Carly, who I met when we first moved to Iowa came to visit me in April. I could never put into words how much it meant to me that she would DRIVE from Iowa to Texas with a 3 yr. old and a 10 month old all by HERSELF! SO SWEET! It had been a hard month for me and knowing this visit was coming was what got me through the month. We had so much fun together and I was so sad to see her leave. Hopefully she'll forget the awful drive enough to make it back here sometime :).  And pretty much we looked homeless the entire time they were here! Gosh, every pic I look at makes me laugh. We rarely got dressed and ready the entire time they were here and just played in the pools, made sure to get our drink runs in, watched our shows, ate lots of treats and junk, shopped, played cards and chatted and laughed till the wee hours!  Here's a few pics. (lots are from my point and shoot)

I finally got to meet little Avery. She is a doll and was always smiling. Peyton was obsessed with her and would walk around saying, "baby" or "I want baby" as soon as she woke up.

Laney and Hallie had a blast swimming and playing in the playhouse. They loved playing with each other.

Trekking our kids to Red Robin

My friend Brittanie was super sweet to offer and watch all the kids so we could go play kid free. We went and got pedicures and out to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. (Carly, why didn't you tell me you were hiding your peace sign the lady kept insisting we do? ha ha). Don't get blinded by my pasty whites.

Took the bikes to the park to play (Carly LOVED this activity :). ha ha)

The girls attempted to have a sleepover one night. "Attempted" was the key word. With them already being overly tired, it didn't quite work out. But it was cute while it lasted.

This picture just cracks me up. I'm glad at least one little cutie likes to look at the camera and smile. Looks like Peyton would rather just sit there and pick her nose.

We made Aaron who was half asleep quickly snap a shot of us before she headed out the door back to Iowa. It didn't take long for my kids to start asking when they would be back to play, Hallie to start writing Laney a letter telling her to please come back, and Peyton to walk around the house looking for "Baby".

ThAnK yOu tHaNk YoU Carly for being such a wonderful friend! You're the best and we miss you dearly!

ANIMAL LOVER

Hallie has a new favorite obsession these days. aNiMaLs. She is either playing with them, taking care of them as pets, or pretending she is one (along with Peyton).

She set this little tea party up for her and her animals and had a blast. It was so cute to watch.

She also loves to have me babysit her pets. This is a regular occurrence of what I will find in the kitchen or wherever I am followed by a phone call asking if I can babysit her pet while she runs some errands. She makes sure to inform me that it's on a leash so I should be okay and goes on to show me everything she's packed in her bag that I can do if the pet gets sad, hungry, tired, etc.

And one of the favorites, pretending she is a pet herself. Peyton, Daddy and I are asked multiple times a day to take her for a walk on her leash (jump rope or ribbon). Or she says that she can't eat her dinner at the table because it's not polite to put your paws in your mouth. She goes "missing" in the house because she has found the perfect cage where noone can find her, etc.

Oh, I love being a Mom! Couldn't be happier with my sweet little girls. They bring me so much joy.