Roseola and Balls

Poor Broyden! He got a really bad case of Roseola and has little pink dots from head to toe! He sure looks funny, but has been such a trooper through it all! He has become such a fast little crawler and even crawls up the stairs all by himself now! Today, I couldn't find him and realized that he had crawled up the stairs and all the way into the loft all by himself! What am I going to do with this kid? He is getting so smart too! He signs "more", "all done", "eat" and just started saying "ball" and "duck" this week! He points at everything and says "Da?" He loves to hear me tell him what he is pointing at.

"S" Club

"S" Club

Only for Sisters

Demarie and Preslyn

Do Not Enter!

Please

Only Mom and Dad

The secret inside of the "S" club. The Queen of the club: Preslyn (because she fits in the caterpillar the best). The Princess of the club: Demarie

Hmmm.. if the club is only for Demarie and Preslyn, but Mom and Dad can come in too, who does that leave out???? Poor Broyden! Already being ostricized by his own sisters! We really need another boy in the house!

First Trip to the Beauty Salon

Preslyn has needed a haircut for quite some time now so I finally took her in to a beauty salon to get her first real cut. I've been cutting her hair up to this point, but I've just been thinking how adorable she would look with a stacked A-line cut. I was pretty excited and brought my camera to take pictures during the cut. I think it is hilarious that the person who ended up cutting her hair was a man with tattoos and earrings everywhere and poker cards all over his hair apron... a little intimidating for a sheltered 2 year old! I asked if I could take her picture while he did the cut and he said, "Ugh, I really don't like to have my picture taken." I told him I would only take one of his arms then. Anyways, he rushed through the cut and I ended up having to take her back and have another lady re-do her hair. All in all, I was pleased with the final outcome and she really does look adorable!

The Luckiest Mom in the World!

For the past few days, Demarie has been sitting at her art table with a sign above her that reads, "Please, do Not look at me!" Well, the other day I was at work and just having one of those days where you feel a little blue and are wondering if anything you do is important or makes a difference to anyone. When I got home, I was greeted by two smiling daughters that practically knocked me over with their hugs. In their hands, they both had made a special gift for me. Preslyn colored a beautiful picture with stickers on it and Demarie had made me a book and one of her famous packages packed with sweet notes and gifts. The title of the book was, "What would you do without Mama?" In the book she wrote about all the little things that I do for her like read her stories, make food, go to work, and help with the hard stuff. I don't know what I did to deserve such sweet, darling little girls! Demarie told me later that she didn't want anyone to look at her because she wanted her present to be a surprise. Since then, Demarie has written a number of original books that are so creative!

CALIFORNIA HERE WE COME!

Usually when we have vacation time, we head up to Utah to visit family. But this year, we actually ventured the opposite direction and took our little family on our own California trip. First, we went to Kernville, CA. Once again thanks to KSHP AM 1400, I got us a cheap two night stay at the Kern Lodge. Kernville is a small town next to the Kern River and Lake Isabella. Our hotel room had a kitchenette in it and right outside our door there was a giant checker and chess board. Demarie was excited to beat Daddy in her first game of checkers!

The big thing to do in Kernville is fishing. There was a nice park right along the river where I was able to fish with Demarie. I think she enjoyed it for about the first eight minutes. She would ask me every 30 seconds if we had caught one yet, and after realizing that fishing required lots of patience, she decided it wasn't that much fun.

Since Aaron's not much of a fisherman either (I guess I'm my kids only hope to learn about the great outdoors), he took the kids on a walk and found some toys that were much more fun than fishing with Mommy! Broyden and Preslyn loved the swings and Demarie learned how to do an "under-dog"!

While we were eating lunch by the river, a truck came and stocked the river with fish. The man let the girls carry a bucket with fish in down to the river and dump it out. We came back later that evening to fish some more and the kids found a nice sandy beach and played along the riverbank. I'm sure that the only reason I didn't catch anything is because the fish needed time to adjust to the river.

The beds were very uncomfortable and the AC was loud, but Broyden enjoyed the bathing arrangements!

For our next adventure, we headed to San Diego where we took the kids to see the ocean for the first time. Unfortunately, it was a chilly, overcast day.

The water was freezing and the crashing waves were a little too scary for Preslyn! (When we were leaving Kernville, the seatbelt hit Preslyn in the eye and she got a nice little shiner. She also fell several times during our trip so her legs were all scraped up. It's a good thing nobody turned us in for child abuse! I have to admit the black eye was pretty cute! Poor Preslyn!)

Broyden enjoyed playing in the sand until it started getting in his eyes and sticking to his hands. He's such a happy little guy!

Demarie enjoyed gathering up sea shells and would have loved to take all the sea shells on the beach home with us! Instead, we only brought a few home and used the rest to decorate a beautiful sand castle!

Our first sand castle on the beach!

Even with the overcast cold day, the view was beautiful!

Once again, thanks to KSHP AM 1400, we enjoyed a free day at San Diego Zoo! We thought maybe we would spend the morning there and then do something else, but it ended up being such a spectacular place that we were one of the last ones to leave the park!

Some of our favorite exhibits were:


The Gorilla. He really enjoyed strutting his stuff around and put on a really great show for everyone!

The Hippos. Who knew that hippos could be so hilarious??? They kept coming up to the glass and showing us their teeth and then they would swim around in a great big circle and come back to do it all over again. They were so silly!

The Panda Bear. The girls loved watching the Panda Bear climb up high in the tree and then come down backwards, making it look so effortless!

The Polar Bears. While we were watching them, Demarie turned to me and asked if they ever fought each other. Just then, one of the bears got mad at the other one and started fighting him for food. It was a short spat, but pretty exciting!

The Mountain Lion. For some reason, Demarie has had this obsession about mountain lions lately. It was fun to finally be able to show her what a real mountain lion looks like!

The Koala Bear. Ok, so everyone enjoyed her except for Preslyn. She has a fear of people dressed up in costumes. It all started with Elmo at the Touch-a-Truck event!

The Giraffes. How can you not love the giraffe with its long legs, neck, and tongue? Fascinating!

The Petting Zoo. Demarie was so brave and let the goats and sheep eat right out of her hands! Preslyn and Broyden... not so brave!

The Aerial Tram. Ok, not an animal, but a georgeous view over the entire park! We rode it several times. Finally, on the last ride, Preslyn announces, "Mommy! I liked it!"

The Mini Train. Wow! What a thrill!







On our last day, before heading home, we went to Costa Mesa Bay. There was a beautiful park overlooking the bay. We played on the toys for awhile, watched the sail boats and then found some lucky ducks to eat some of my home-made bread. It was a perfect moment!

Our little two-and a half year old summarized all of our feelings when we pulled into our driveway. As soon as she saw our house, Preslyn burst into tears, crying, "Mommy! I don't want to sleep at home! I want to sleep in the hotel!" I think we would all agree that we would have liked our vacation to last a little bit longer too. I guess we'll just have to dream about the fun times we had in our own beds!

9 Months and Army Crawling

Around 9 months, Broyden started army crawling and at 10 months and 1 day, he started getting up on all fours and crawling like a big boy!!!! It is so amazing! I can't believe we have a baby that MOVES before a year old!!! All our baby girls did was sit on their tushies and whine:) This is a video of his cute little army crawl.

Hangin' with the Harris'

One of the highlights of our Utah trip is going waterskiing at Cutler Reservior with Grandpa Harris. The kids enjoyed riding on the boat this year and they even joined Daddy for a spin on the waverunner!

I love this picture of Broyden with Grandpa Harris! Maybe someday Grandpa Harris will be pulling Broyden behind his boat while he skis and wakeboards!

I'm so mad that we didn't get the camera out at Grandma and Grandpa Harris' house! I could have sworn that we did, but there are no pictures on my camera! Grandma Harris worked on house plans for over 4 years and they have been in the building process for quite awhile. This winter they were finally able to move in and their new place is georgeous!!! The kids had a blast playing with Stephanie, Josh, Vanessa, and Jakie in their new double-decker playroom and the movie theater room is awesome! They have a beautiful view of Cache Valley from their balcony and Grandma Harris recently purchased a georgeous grand piano that sits in their living room. We had a great time hanging out and being with family. Aaron's brother, Shawn, got ordained to be an Elder and it was nice to be there for that too. Next time we'll have to have our camera ready! It was weird not having Ben and Julie's family around. We sure miss them!

BEAR LAKE TRIP

Demarie exploring with her cousins

For the fourth of July, we headed up to Utah for our annual Bear Lake vacation with the Moon family. Susie and Rett were in charge this year and we had lots of fun playing tennis, exploring with cousins, swimming, boating, tie-dying shirts, and family time at the park.

Aaron racing Jake in the pool. The water was COLD this year!

Family night at the park. Aunt Susie planned lots of fun games and then we ate goodies and did sparklers. I just look at this picture and can't help but think of all the mosquitoes out that night! Ugh!!! I'm not sure I can move back to Utah just because of the mosquitoes!

Demarie spelling her name with the sparklers. I kept having to remind Preslyn to hold the sparklers on the end of the stick... boy can they be dangerous!

I was so grateful to Kaija, my neice!!! Broyden was so clingy the entire trip, but at family night, Kaija came over and started playing with him. He immediately fell in love with her and was all smiles and giggles the rest of the night!

It was so cold and windy on the day we went to the lake. The kids spent most of the time playing in the back of the van!
Finally, they got out and started playing in the sand.

The cool Moon boys trying to surf!

Aunt Stacey planned a fun craft for the kids-- tie dye! This is a picture of all the grandkids that were there (except for cute Mylee and Tyler) in their tie-dye shirts. Broyden drooled on his and it stained his arms blue and his chin red. He looked like he was an abused child!

The kids had a blast feeding the seagulls!

AREN'T THEY ADORABLE?????

Jake missed balancing Tean on his hands, so he had to try it with Broyden. Broyden was nervous, but he did it with a smile!

I love visiting Bear Lake and I love visiting my family! It wasn't the same this year with my parents on a mission and we missed Daren and Cathy's family too, but it's always fun getting together and watching all the little neices and nephews grow up. I miss not living closer to them! Thanks Susie for planning the festivities this year and thanks Milisa for letting us use your cabin and jet skis!