Running

We like to run! The last couple of years we have gotten back into running, and even ran our first half marathon last summer. This nice weather has been great. Yesterday we all took a turn running. Abby and Kate even ran the last couple of blocks along our street. There is a feeling of Spring in the air!

Cookie College

Fun With Grandma
Grandma Janet took the girls to Gardner Village today. They offer tours of their bakery as part of a cookie cooking class for kids. The girls each got to help make cookie dough, roll out cookies and frost cookies. The kids had so much fun touring the bakery and making cookies in a "real" bakery. They received graduation diplomas from Cookie College as well as their box of professional cookies. Way to bake girls.

Olympic Week at Flip's

The last two weeks have been "Olympic" Weeks at gymnastics. All 3 girls did snowboarding, ice skating, bobsled, skiing, hockey and everything in between, including the opening and closing ceremonies as part of their classes. They each earned a medal and had so much fun participating in the Olympics. We have also enjoyed watching the Vancouver Olympic Games on TV.

Abby Doing The Splits

Beautiful Abby!
Ever since Abby was a baby, she has loved to do tricks and works hard so that she can do them well! Look at those splits. Way to go Abbers!!!

Baby Ella

The girls LOVE to play with their dolls. Today Ella was tired of being a Mom and decided to get in the doll crib and be the baby! What a cute baby!

New Dance Costumes

Abby, Kate, and Ella each got their 2010 dance costumes today.
They are darling and the girls are SO excited!



Abby is dancing to High School Musical and is especially good at her toe touches.

Kate is dancing to "Singing In The Rain," and she
loves dancing with an umbrella as part of her dance.

Ella is learning a dance to "I Don't Want To Grow Up."
This is Ella's first dance class and she is loving "growing up."

She loves practicing her dance for any audience.

Miss Mo teaches all 3 girls dance. Our girls love Miss Mo. She is so talented and works so well with kids. The kids love playing dance class as home. They each love pretending they're Miss Mo. Miss Mo is so positive and it is fun to hear the kids repeat the kind things she has said to them. She is such a great role model.
The girls love dance and are becoming such great dancers.

Ella and The Oreos

Ella has been so funny lately. She wants to be independent! Mealtime is an adventure. One meal all she wants to eat is salad....no croutons....just lettuce and dressing. The next day, a different meal, all she wants to eat is carrots and dip. Then there was the oreo cookie day. When I got out of the shower I was surprised to see Ella with a sleve of oreo cookies all over the ground and on her face. (Apparently she only likes the cream....forget the chocolate cookies).
Today she is all about milk. She has already had 2 glasses and wants nothing else.
Cute Ella.....

Cooking With Kate

Kate loves to cook. This week we made rolls and she helped roll out the dough, cut the rolls, and set them in the pan to rise. Today she cut tomatoes and pureed them for the spaghetti sauce. Kate is also great at cleaning up. She loves to wash dishes and to empty the dishwasher.
Thank you for all of your help Kate and for making everyday tasks so much fun!

Happy Birthday J

Happy Birthday...

Daddy and his girls.

Kate was especially excited about Daddy's Birthday.
She had a plan....balloons and ice cream cake roll, which she helped make.

Everyone was excited to open presents.

We had a quiet fondue dinner at home.
Daddy style!

What we love about our Dad...
Kate loves Daddy time.
Ella loves hugs and kisses.
Abby loves playing games with Dad.

Art by Abby

Abby drew this picture of our family. I love it!!!

Puppy Love

The girls love all of the animals in our extended family. Daisy the dog. Maple the dog. Crush the cat. They love to play animal shelter and take turns being animals and choosing out pets to buy. They especially like it when I will play withe them and they each pretend to be a different animal. They think that whoever barks or meows the loudest will be chosen. I usually end up taking them all home with me!!! Lately Ella has been the puppy and Kate the owner.....leash clipped on the clothes and all.

My Valentine....

Sweet, romantic, and lots of fun.

We celebrated Valentines Day with a couples massage and dinner.

J skiing this week at Brighton. Double black diamond man!

Love our Ella Elizabeth

Ella was born with a love for life. From her quick delivery, to wanting to be big....she always wants to be where the action is.

This week Daddy was laying Ella down for a nap. He asked her if she wanted him to cuddle with her or for him to leave. She wanted to cuddle and then warned, "I'm going to kick you."

She always makes us laugh. We love Ella for many reasons. She is brave and loves to try new things. She always has a smile on her face. She always has a hug to give. We are glad that Ella is apart of our family.

Baths and Ballet

Baths and Ballet...

You may not think that baths and ballet have much in common. However, Ella has discovered the art of combining both. She uses the bar in the tub to add to her gracefulness.

Love our Kathryn Lauren

Kate with all of her Valentines from school.
She is convinced she is going to marry Slater, one of her friends.
Slater and Kater.

Kate and Ella and their lovely manicures. This was Ella's first time to the nail salon. Kate showed her exactly what to do. Ella choose pink with a purple flower and Kate choose silver polish with a pink flower. Pretty girls!

Kate is very loving and is always showing love. One day I was having a hard day....Kate came and gave me a hug. "Mom, we're always going to be your kids. We're always going to love you." She taught me an important lesson that day. She loves cuddle time with Mom, and says, "Time for my hugs and my kisses" (and gives me a hug and a kiss). Then Kate will say, "Time for your hugs and your kisses" (and she waits for me to give her a hug and a kiss). We love you Kate. Thank's for being so loving and so easy to love.

Love our Abby Jane

We have been talking a lot about Valentine's Day and showing love.
Things I Love...
1. "Good morning" hugs from each of our girls.
2. My little helpers...Kate loves to do dishes, sweep and mop the floor.
Ella loves to clean up bath toys, and all toys.
Abby loves to vacuum and to make beds. How lucky am I ?

Abby, our little gymnast, always makes us smile. She is on her head as much as she is on her feet. She is always learning new tricks. Yesterday at gymnastics, Abby went from standing position into a back bend, by herself. It was beautiful to watch! Way to go Abby!!!

Another trait I love about Abby is her courage to try new things.....from climbing coconut trees to sounding out words while reading, to science experiments. Abby is super brave, confident and loves a new challenge. She is smart, happy, and has a beautiful smile. We love you Abby!

Scottsdale, Arizona - February 2010

2nd Annual Girls Weekend
in Scottsdale, Arizona

Karen, Lori, Ashley, Launi, CeCe, Amanda, Allie and Maggie


J comes from a family of 7 siblings. In 2009, we started our first girls weekend in Utah with all 7 sisters and sisters in law, and J's Mom.
For our Second Annual Girls Weekend, we decided to travel to Arizona, to visit CeCe, my sister in law who moved to Scottsdale about a year and a half ago.

We had a fun 4 days.....pedicures, shopping, movies, hiking, and the Super Bowl.
It was a nice 60 degrees and sunny. Gets me excited for Spring.

J was quite the sport watching all 3 girls and even made it to church with all 3 girls!!!

Looking good...

Mesa Arizona Temple

Pedicure Time
All 8 of us lined up enjoying our pedicures.....


Next Year....February 2011....Portland, Oregon.

United States Mint

We had fun touring the Denver Mint and seeing how coins are made. J has a coin collection and especially enjoyed the tour. In fact, this was the most expensive part of our trip. The tour was free, the souvenirs from the gift shop.....we'll that's another story.

Nature And Science Museum - Denver

Abby and Ella enjoying all of the bubbles.

Fun to be a family....

The kids loved the Nature and Science Museum. They are still talking about the "real" brain in a jar. There were a lot of hands on exhibits. They felt like little scientist, exploring the Space Exhibit, digging for dinosaur bones, etc.

They had some fun mirrors. We all voted that Abby looked the most funny!
I haven't seen Abby laugh that hard.....ever.

Kate chasing bubbles by a huge bubble maker.

Love all of the smiles!!!

Casa Bonita - Denver

One of our favorite resturants in Denver is Casa Bonita. I hadn't been there since I was 13. It was fun to see that it hasn't changed at all.Ella loved the "pink" walls throughout the Mexican Resturant.

The kids loved exploring caves and tunnels. They also loved the divers, the actors (including the Princess in distress) mariachi band, and dancing.

They loved standing on a little bridge to watch the divers.

Denver was sunny and in the high 50's in temperature.
The kids loved not having to wear coats.

Abby on a bridge behind the waterfall.

Abby Climbed a Coconut Tree

Abby is a great climber! When she saw a coconut tree at the Denver Aquarium, she was ready to climb.
The tree was about 25 feet tall and Abby made it all the way to the top.
Way to go Abbers!