Phone Pictures

Growing up, I remember when my mom would make tacos, the kids always had the job of grating the cheese. I finally went online to find the same one we had growing up because I wanted my kids to start helping with grating cheese & veggies. It is a life saver!! Not kidding!! 

One night while Anton was out of town, Claire wanted to have a sleep over. This is a big thing in our house. We don't, and never really have let our kids sleep in our bed, so she was super excited that I let her "sleep" with me. She got all of her stuffies she sleeps with, all her blankets and snuggled right in. She looked so cute in my great big bed! But, of course, she couldn't fall asleep and eventually decided she wanted to go back to her bed. It was kind of funny! At least we tried! We are all our "own beds" time of people :)

Claire got this costume out again! Still fits like a charm!

The girls had such a fun assembly at school, that I went to go see what the hype was all about! They had a fundraiser with school and raised about six thousand dollars more than what they were hoping for. So, the principal said if they hit a certain goal, he would kiss a pig. The kids were SO excited to see him kiss a pig, and they laughed so hard when it happened!

We don't have any great pizza places close by, and are sick of not having good pizza! Since it is one of our very favorite things to eat, we decided to take the plunge and make our own. It was super fun to make, and they turned out pretty good. Next time though, I am making my own dough for the crust. 

Claire loves her "softie" the very most. I thought it was so cute when I looked on my phone, and saw that she had been taking pictures of Softie!

Easter 2016

Our Easter this year was wonderful. It was so low key and so fun to do the traditions with the girls. On Saturday we dyed Easter eggs, and because Anton can't resist a competition we each got a certain number of eggs and then had our neighbors come over and pick out their three favorite eggs. Anton's pride was shattered when mine were the three favorite! It was funny! Claire was making us laugh so hard because she kept dipping her whole hand into the dye, so by the end her hand was completely purple. Thank goodness it came off in the bath! 

The next morning the Easter bunny hid some eggs and set out the Easter baskets. After that we headed off to church. The girls were excited to wear their Easter dresses, and Claire kept saying that her dress was her favorite dress she had. I guess she has a thing for blue! Later that afternoon, we went to my parents house for dinner. My mom had a little bag filled with thoughtful little things for each grandchild. I thought it was so cute of her. It was such a great day, top to bottom!! 

New Fence

I think this is our 3rd fence that we've had to build. So, even though Anton knew what he was doing, didn't make the job much less of a "chore"! We knew the fence was coming soon, because it was really leaning over, and so when we got a big wind storm it finally finished the fence off. It came at a horrible time (Anton's busiest time of year), but we didn't have a choice except jump right in! We were really fortunate to have our neighbor that we share the fence with. He was such a huge help, and we were really glad when he wanted to do cedar instead of vinyl. We also had a couple other neighbors just wanted over to help...we have the greatest neighbors! It just realized I didn't take a final picture - but it turned out SO good! I am always so glad I am married to a guy who is so handy. Anton is never afraid to get his hands dirty and dive into a project. 

And last but not least, it wouldn't be a project if there wasn't an injury!

Oral Ballam funeral

Anton's incredibly sweet, amazing accomplished, humble, darling grandpa Ballam passed away on February 18th. It was only a few short month after his Grandma Ballam passed away. I knew loosing his grandfather would be especially hard on Anton. Anton has always adored his grandpa, and had held him far above many others. Anton traveled down to St. George before he passed so he could say his goodbyes. He called me shortly after and was so sad, and so emotional. He went on to tell me that that outside of something happening to me or the girls and some close family members, he knew he would be one of the hardest to say goodbye to. Grandpa played such an enormous role in Anton's life. He was such a great role model for Anton, and taught Anton so many things - some by example, some in words. When I was reading his obituary, I couldn't believe how many incredible things he accomplished. I have never read an obituary like that before - and that is saying something since I look at the obituaries almost daily. He was quite the man. As we were getting ready for the funeral, I walked passed the marriage certificate hanging in our room. It was signed by Grandpa, who married us. It was a sweet moment for us to remember...especially since just a few days later, we celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary. He was such a sweet man, and we will miss him very much.

 

For my records part 2

Life is never dull with Claire. She has the world's best imagination...and it usually involves animals. Her current favorite is to get her "exercise outfit" on, put her softie or brown bunny in the waist band and jump on the tramp. She imagines she is a mommy kangaroo. I love it. 

I have loved going hiking lately. It is such a nice change from the usual treadmill and eliptical (which I was starting to dread). Plus it burns so many more calories in a quick amount of time. It has been fun and rewarding to use my watch Anton gave me for Christmas, which I use to track my time. I am getting quicker which is fun! I have just been going up Olympus, so when the snow melts it will be fun to start on the hikes in the canyons. I am so lucky to live here, and that I get to take off in the middle of the day to do this. 

Love these little twerps, and love that they adore one another. Hope it always stays that way!

Pretty soon Claire will need to stop sucking her thumb. I am a total push-over and haven't been as good as I should be about making her stop. I guess it is partly that she seems so little when she does it...and there is a part of me that really really really doesn't want my baby girl to grow up! As soon as she looses those front baby teeth - which are loose - she will have to stop. Oh dear. Wish us luck!

Mickey Mouse on in the back ground - jammies on at 10:00 - doing crafts. A little slice of heaven in my opinion! I am going to die when she starts school next year!!! 

Lunch on the tramp with her favorite little buddies!

For some reason, Claire loves Home Depot - and she loves Anton's hats. With all our projects, she gets to spend lots of time at Home Depot!

Ok, Lilly is SO adorable with babies! We have the most darling little baby girl a couple doors down. We all love her, but she really only likes Lilly. Everytime Anton and I try and hold her, she cries. When Lilly holds her, this is what happens:

Another hat picture. Couldn't resist. Like the modeling pose?!

For my records

I took so many random pictures throughout the last couple of months. I always take a quick picture because I think to myself "I never want to forget this". We haven't had a lot going on lately...just the same old, which in reality is kind of nice. We are such creatures of habit, and do so much better on our usual routine. So, here are some day to day pictures...and moments I never want to forget!

I got to go with Claire on her class field trip to the Aquarium. She was SO excited to go. Every night before bed she would ask me how many more sleeps until the field trip. She got to ride on the bus for the first time, which was kind of exciting for her. It took me right back to my days of riding the bus! She had such a great time there, and loved having me with her. I also loved it. I feel so fortunate that I get to do things like this with my girls. 

We were dog sitting this little dog named Chip, and he quickly became a family favorite! No one wanted to have him go home. There were lots of tears shed when the time came to drop him off. 

I was cooking dinner one evening and I could hear the girls laughing while jumping on the tramp. After what seemed like a long winter, the sound of the kids laughing and playing outside was music to my ears. They spend many many hours out on the trampoline! They just make up their own games, giggle and get lots of energy out...I love it. 

I should have posted this in the last post, but clearly forgot. On Valentines, Lilly's best bud Blake knocked on the door and gave the girls both roses. It was honestly one of the cutest things! Lilly was a little embarrassed and didn't quite know how to react, but I knew she loved it. Major props to his Mom...too cute. 

We had several weeks of beautiful weather. On a Friday the girls had off of school, we got the bikes and scooters out and spent several hours outside with some of the neighbor kids. Cooper was in heaven! 

Fun At School & Valentines

The school held a family Bingo night which was really fun. Anton was out of town, so we had Nana come with. She can't turn down a game of Bingo! It's her favorite!

The week of Parent Teacher Conferences they had Grandparent lunch. It just so happened that Claire's was at 11:30, and Lilly had hers at 12:00, so it worked out perfectly! It was really cute because I guess my Dad had a really fancy lunch that day with work and he told my Mom he was going to cancel it because "there was nowhere else he would rather be, than having lunch with his granddaughters". And, if you know my Dad, you know that is the truth. These two love their grandkids more than they love their own kids! And for that, I am so grateful! These little girlies loooove their Nana and Pops!

The little Kindergarteners had their "100th day of School", so they got to dress up like they were 100 years old. Oh man, Claire was so excited! We sprayed her hair white, I let her use some of my old glasses, and we used Lilly's ice skating tights and she was set! It was a fun day for her.

Valentines Day this year was a fun one! They kids didn't have school the Friday before, so they had their parties on Thursday. They were excited to give their teachers and friends their Valentines, especially Claire (since this was her first Valentines at the school). I helped out in Claire's class this time, since the last party I helped in Lilly's class. They got a grundle of candy and had a lot of fun playing games and doing crafts. The one down side...we have had the worst inversion, so they haven't let the kids go out to recess for a week. You combine that with two days off school, and loads of Valentines candy and you get totally insanely hyper kids! Thankfully the weather has cleared up, and they are back to playing outside!

How cute are these? The school put a heart out with every students name on one. I thought that was such a cute thing!

The girls were so excited to see each other during school!! It was really cute. Lilly came down to Claire's class with me and got to say Hi. Claire was so happy to see Lilly. Warms my heart to know how much they love each other.

Anton and I very rarely do anything for Valentines because it is a busy month for us (Birthday, Valentines and Anniversary) so I was surprised when I came home to these gorgeous flowers, chocolate covered strawberries and a sweet card with a gift certificate for a massage. I can't think of many things I love more than a massage! It's a dang good thing I bought something for him. It wasn't much, but at least it was something!