Thanks for That, Annie

The other day, Greg and I had gone and looked at mattresses. In particular, King size mattresses, as we're currently embroiled in the 'Great Do-We-Or-Don't-We-Upgrade Debate of 2010'.

I was telling my sister about it this morning, "It's funny . . . they're only 16 inches wider," I stated, "but they feel huge."

Annie, who was in the other room, only caught part of the conversation, but felt the need to helpfully and sympathetically yell out, "It's OK Mom, that's just 'cause you're pregnant . . ."

Don't Feed the Baby

The girls and I were hanging out in bed, eating a brownie this morning. (OK, before you judge -- they'd had a perfectly healthy breakfast already, and this was one brownie left over from last night that we were splitting between the three of us.) :-)

Anyway, at one point, Annie wanted to 'talk' to the baby; which typically involves my children shouting stuff like, "We love you Isaac!" directly into my belly button. (Annie also constantly reassures him he's a good baby brother, and that he never cries inside Mom's tummy.) The kids were having fun talking to their baby brother, and Ellie was even happily repeating her version of the word "Isaac."

Suddenly, Ellie hopped up, reached over to the mostly empty plate, and grabbed a big brownie crumb and shoved it into my belly button for the baby to eat. When I tried to remove the brownie, she got mad, slapped my hand away and emphatically explained, "Isaac! Isaac!"

At least she's willing to share with the new baby.

I've spent the remainder of the morning avoiding food being shoved into my navel by a two year old.

(At one point this morning though, Ellie suddenly decided she didn't like the name Isaac anymore, and anytime we say it, she shakes her head emphatically and corrects us with a firm, "Asher!")

Family Pictures

We were out at Wheeler Farm a few weeks ago getting some new pictures of the girls taken. Cliff and Colby Johnson, of Lazy Day Photo, were both snapping untold number of pictures simultaneously, which means I've only seen the preview photos so far, and there's already several hundred pictures I can't choose from! :-) They're great, 'cause it's a huge variety of pictures, everything from nicely posed pictures to amazing candids, and a ton of really creative shots, that captured my little girls personalities so well! (Greg and I appear in some pictures, but it was more a photo shoot about the girls than a family one -- mainly 'cause I feel huge and pregnant, and didn't want a ton of new pictures of myself for display at this size.) :-)

Anyway, I randomly picked some that stuck out as my favorites . . . (out of the 552 that are posted online in our photo album -- and I get the CD next week!) I'm pretty impressed I was able to narrow it down to these few! :-)

Turning in His Papers . . .

So, my baby brother Cody, is preparing to turn in his mission papers. One of the last things he has to do to finish them up is to submit a photo (in mission attire, and with mission hair (i.e., a part)), and my Mom sent him over to my house this morning to get this last little detail taken care of. So, we took a few pictures of Cody against a plain wall, resized 'em and will be uploading them to the website today. And then he's done. We'll all just sit back and take bets (but not real monetary ones, of course) on where they send him.

Our little missionary wannabe . . .

We also got some pictures of Cody with the girls (who'd both just gotten out of the tub).

I love Annie's cheesy smile here.

All piled on Uncle Doh-doh. (Ellie changed his name from Cody to "Doh Doh", something that amuses us all greatly. She also calls him "tar-et" (which translates to "Target", since when we shoot him with Nerf guns, he's the target.)

Cody insisted on taking some pictures of me and the girls, since I'd captured so many of him with closed eyes and crooked smiles, he was trying to get revenge. Too bad for him I photograph beautifully every time! :-)

Unrelated, I have some pictures from when we went to Thankgiving Point for the Tulip Festival (again) with our friends Jason and Sarah and their baby. (Thanks again for inviting us!) The kids had a ton of fun, and Annie remembered to bring along her magnifying glass this time, so she could truly "investigate the flowers."

Ellie happily posing outside the secret garden (she'd watched some couple pose here for pictures, and soon as they left, she ran up to the door and turned to me and yelled "Cheese!")

Annie playing in the fountains in the Secret Garden. This area was up there with the amphitheater as favorite spots!

Asher and Ellie in front of the fountain. Ellie was so happy to have someone her sized around (even if he is actually like 9 months younger than her), and she happily followed him around, calling out, "Ash, Ash!" the whole time.

Leaving the Secret Garden.

Not happy about leaving the Secret Garden.

Congrats Grad!

My brother in law, David, just graduated from BYU (for which we'll forgive him -- and education is an education, no matter where you got it -- just kidding, David! Remember that Star and I exercised great control and did NOT put Ellie in her U of U dress for your graduation ceremony! That's how much we love you!)

The girls had a surprising amount of fun for there being approximately twelve billion names read (many of which made Annie laugh out loud. "Andrew Martin." "Ha ha ha ha ha! That's a funny name Mom!" "Jared Smith." "That one's funny too! Ha ha ha!" Which was good -- you want an easily amused child during a two and a half hour long ceremony.) They especially had fun running around outside in the barely-cooperating-weather and playing with all the adults fighting over their attention (to keep themselves entertained during the reading of approximately twelve billion names.)

Congratulations David! We're really proud!
The girls and I were honored to be a part of this day with you!