Grandma Recksiek

Seriously, can there be a sweeter, cuter, Grandma in the whole world? We don't think so. This is my Mom's Mom, Grandma Recksiek. The girls and I took her dinner a few weeks ago. We don't visit her nearly enough. The girls couldn't remember the last time we were there, if that tells you how long ago :( Very horrible of me! They were SO interested and excited to explore her home and look at all of her collections. She loves Owls, Bears and Kitten's. My Grandma and Grandpa came here from Germany almost 50 years ago. This is the same house they have always lived in. It is very cool. I'm pretty sure they have not replaced anything in the house, besides painting. Everything is original. It is so great to just listen to her talk with her strong German accent. Their stories are amazing, I'll have to ask her next time if she has kept a journal over the years. My Grandpa passed away a few years ago leaving her very lonely. They were the ultimate picture of a cute, affectionate, loving couple, who adored everything about each other. He is very missed. Us girls decided we will make this a tradition to visit her a couple times a month. We don't last long with busy Ava, but even a little time gives us priceless memories.

I couldn't finish this post and not mention Grandma Wright, my Dad's Mom. This woman has conquered the world and back. I have never met a stronger woman who has been through SO much and is so full of faith and love. We are so lucky to have these wonderful women in our lives!

This picture will be a teaser for my last recap month, December. (really, it's the only picture I could find of my grandma)

November 2009

We did the greatest thing ever! Had a load of sky miles that we needed to use. Planned a total top secret, surprise vacation to our absolute favorite place on earth - DISNEYLAND! The girls didn't have a clue. Like mentioned before, we went down to St. George for Halloween weekend. It was to distract the girls from the real trip. We left St. George on Sunday "to go home." We got on the freeway heading south though. As we pass Vegas, the girls didn't say a word. As we go through the port of California and get stopped, the girls don't say a word. After hours of driving, minutes before getting off the freeway at Disneyland, Mya asks, "Dad, are we still in St. George?" He answers no. "Then why are there still palm trees?" Oh, we are still close to St. George and it's still warm. "Oh, OK." I was dying of excitement at this point! We got off the freeway, pulled onto the street of Disneyland and this is what happened...

It took a minute to sink in. I love after we tell them, they both ask, "Can we can go?" As if we would just drive by, show them, and not go in :) Then we got in the hotel room...

We arrived on Sunday so we'd be able to start bright and early on Monday. We took the girls down to Newport, my life long summer vacation spot. Sadly, Ava has never been to the beach. She bee-lined for the water and never thought twice about how cold it was. It made me sad that we haven't been here for so long. It is my goal to make it back SOON! We'll see if we can make it happen?

Heaven!

Monday Morning -We are ready!

This "baa-loo" was the highlight of the trip for Ava. She thought it was the greatest thing and had so much fun with it. Don't mind the no pants look, she spilled a cup of lemonade on herself in the stroller.

A fun last minute surprise was The Johnson's decided to join up with us for a couple days while they visited Ryan's parents.

Look at all of those screaming faces :) Chris, Mya, Ryan, Bella, Angie, Christian (Ryan's Brother) And, Ryan's Dad with his head down. It was his first time on this ride and I guess very out of character for him.

One last surprise for all of us, my mom showed up out of nowhere on Tuesday night to spend a couple days with us. We were there for Bella's birthday which was so fun. Disneyland spoiled her, she got a gift card to spend at any store and a Birthday pin so everybody knew it was her special day. She got so much attention all day. What's better than a birthday in Disneyland? She was very happy!

Really, we had the best time and hope to return again!

October 2009

Almost done! Back to our normal, crazy busy. On a side note, Ava has discovered that she loves to watch movies. Last month, it was Shrek, non-stop. How can kids watch the same thing over and over and over and over? Have you seen Shrek 1 lately? It is SO funny. Mostly Donkey. I find myself gut laughing all day, listening to it. The problem with the first one is there are a few words that I don't want my kids to hear in my home. Shrek 2 and 3 are clean. This month she has moved on to Winnie the Pooh. She is obsessed! Funny girl.

The first part of October brought our first trip to Gardner's Village to see the Witches. I mean, we've been to Gardner's Village, just not for the Witches :)

We went with The Mortensen's. Chris has known Micah since grade school. I met him in High School and then after missions, he married Amy. Love them and always have the greatest time together! Here are the kids. Ava, Mya, Bella, Sam, Ella and Max.

Ava figures out how to draw and color. She loves it...

This picture is the best, Mya reading to Ava

Bella has played soccer with all of the neighbor kids for 4 years now. Every fall and spring on Saturday, off to soccer we go. This year brought a fun change. The kids get to be the goalie. Bella thought that was the greatest thing and can't wait for soccer to start again. I don't have any still shots, just video. Excuse my mom chants and voice :)

Check this out. The kids were running circles around the house one evening while we were out enjoying wonderful weather. It got dark so we came in. I brought Ava to the bath and discovered this...

We have dreaded rose bushes in our yard. I asked Bella if she saw Ava fall? "Yes mom, right into the rose bush!" "And, she didn't even cry!" Ouch!

HALLOWEEN

My 3 little witches. I loved their costumes this year. All borrowed.

Thanks to Tiff, Martsi and Em.

We were in St. George for the actual Halloween Day. Tiff and Nate were down there for baseball. We picked a cool neighborhood to trick or treat in and then got pizza for a late dinner. So fun! And then off to a secret vacation! Don't tell the girls!!!

Who's bored of this - September 2009

So sorry Martsi, I can't read the standard color. Back to dark purple....

September was a pretty quiet month around here. Shocking, I know with all the other crazy months :) The girls decided that they wanted to take gymnastics. Bella had tried it once before but thought it was too hard and the teacher "is mean" My girls have been enrolled in every possible thing, it is time to pick one that they love and run with it! Have you seen the girls that take at Jolley's Gymnastics? Amazing. The little ones, on up, can tumble like no other. Of course, most start at 4 years old. We got both girls in the same class, just a workout class that teaches them the basics. I apologize to my children that have my very unflexible bodies. They have liked it fine enough. Bella can finally do a back walkover. Not totally fluid yet but working on it. Mya has improved a lot. She can now do awesome round off's and cartwheels. She also loves hand stands and can stay up for pretty long. They are convinced they DON'T want to stay though. We will finish the year and then I will give them a list of all the choices of activities and tell them to choose one. And, we're sticking with it this time. My personal favorite for them is dance, but really, girls, your choice :)

While the girls were at school and the weather still amazing, Martsi and I took the Lincoln and Ava to the Zoo and Thanksgiving Point Petting Zoo. They loved it. Bella and Mya were bugged that I went without them. Sorry.

This Video is so funny.

Can you see this?

On my blog, the standard color of text looks light grey when I post? I decided to change the font color to dark purple so it would show up better. Martsi says she can't read it on her iphone because the background is black? It doesn't load my cutesy background. I told her I wouldn't change the color this time to see if she could see it better :) So, Martsi, can read this?

By the way... Saturday - Celine - AMAZING! Hands down the greatest thing to ever hit the scene! And I think she is hilarious. So caring, passoniate, and animated! LOVE HER!!!

I want to go again, any takers?

Can't Wait!

This is for all of the Celine lovers in my life :) (Wendy?) I am SO excited! I am going to see this on Saturday with Martsi. It has been out all week but Martsi has been busy, in Hawaii! She gets home today to this horrible weather. I don't think I feel bad for her though because they have been there for 12 days!!! Oh, the life.

I have been watching Celine videos all morning. I absolutely LOVE her. I get teary eyed most times I watch anything she does? I know, it's weird but I just can't help it! And if you haven't ever heard her sing live, you are missing out, big time.

Once again, I can't preview this post so I have no idea how it's going to turn out. I hope it works! Enjoy! (there were much better, longer videos but I thought it would be overload :)

Check out this great MSN Video: 'Celine: Through the Eyes of the World' Trailer

Guess Who's Potty Trained?

Nixon, not Ava. She has shown a great interest in the toilet since Nixon started the potty process. She asks non-stop to "pee". I put her on, she reaches for the toilet paper, wipes and wants off. She has done this for over a month with out ever actually doing her thing :) We watched Nixon last week. He needed to go, so immediately Ava wanted in on the action. I put her on and wouldn't you know it, SHE WENT! We celebrated, hugged, and danced. How exciting! Bella and Mya didn't potty train until 3. I ran downstairs to my heaping stacks of girls clothes bins and found the cutest pair of little underwear. She looked adorable in them. It was on, every second, she wanted on the toilet. She never went again, on the toilet, just 3 times on the floor, right after I took her off the toilet. UGHHH. I put a diaper back on, not ready! She may be, but I'm not. She'll be 2 next month, I'll try a little harder later!

I could not get Nixon to look at the camera. Is it ok to post this picture of Ava? On the toilet? I thought it was cute? Inappropriate?

Look at these two! Watching Monsters Inc. in the first scare scene. They were glued. And such awesome facial expressions.

Really, I think painted toes and fingernails are the best. It makes you feel so pretty and girly. We decided to have a nail painting party today. 70 nails painted in all. Good thing Ava was down for a nap or it never would have happened :)

August 2009 - Continued

I know, I am giving you a post overload. Just get it done! I had a great discovery this past August, I am allergic to weeding. As most of you know, Chris and I are not great at yard work. I wish we would do better. We have WAY too many flower beds at our house. The landscape designer talked us into it and his drawings looked amazing so we agreed. Big mistake! I can handle the front yard but the back, oh man, it's a mess. I was out weeding one day when all of the sudden I began itching like crazy. This has never happened before. I immediately stopped all yard work when I noticed this...

Can you believe that? I don't know if you can tell from these photo's but these hives covered my arms and legs. I figured out that it was the weed that is a tumbleweed looking plant before it dies. Why would we have these in our yard? Well, we don't have a fence and our backyard is one big giant field. I called Chris to tell him what happened, hoping to get some sympathy. His response was very logical, "Just don't touch that kind of weed." Funny :)

These were one of the major highlights of our summer. Our first tomato plant. And it actually produced! We were slow to start because we were watering way too much. As soon as we slowed down the water, the tomato's came! LOVE them. Sliced, salted, and on a piece of bread, YUM!

Day break Beach

This was our first time to this awesome beach. We loved it. It almost made me feel like I was in California :) Very fun activity to do with the kids, and the best part, it's free. Too bad it was closed. I hope they can figure out how to clean the water.

My brother Danny got married this past August. We love Bre, she fits in perfectly! We held a bridal shower at my house for her.

Here is Bre (blonde), her sister, and her mom.

For some reason, the support at showers are not great with our extended family. We warned Bre that there was a chance nobody would come (it happened once). We were delighted when our Grandma and Aunt Ruthann came!

Martsi and my sister in law, Emilee.

My sister Tiffany, Shelby and Bella, holding sweet baby, Andi Grace. I'm not sure why but I didn't get a picture of Tarren. And then my Aunt Pam and her daughter Kirsten came as well.

The Wedding

What a great weekend of celebration!

August 2009 - Mya's 6th Birthday

I have no idea what I am doing :) I just made this collage on Picasa. It brought me to this page that looks different than what I'm used to. I can't preview the post before publishing it. I'm really not computer smart.

Mya's Birthday! She wanted her celebration at Classic Skating. They have private parties on Saturday mornings before they open to the public. It was great and not crowded at all. She was so happy with this party and especially happy because she has so many great friends!

August 2009

I'm getting tired of these past month posts. I'm sure you are too :) Just so I can say I did it, I will continue. Just to finish July, here are the last few pictures...

Bella, Madi and Chris jumping their highest jump! Seriously. That is my first born child up on that cliff. She jumped right after this was taken. Crazy!

Mya was so scared to try this activity. She finally got the nerve to do it from the lowest point possible :) She did it a hundred times after this.

Really, I miss summer! Please warmth, come back.

First day of school

Mya the cutie! And those eyes! I have a feeling this child will give us a lot of grey hair in the future :)

Sweet Bella. Growing up too fast. Yes, flip flops to school. Remember, it's July. These shoes are the only thing we know in the summertime.