Minot, ND and the Return of Uncle Curtis!

An account from the perspective of Elise as recorded by Kent.

Dad and I decided to surprise Uncle Curtis when he came home from his mission in Spain, so we flew to Minot, ND. I’ve never met him before, so it was exciting to see him though I was awfully tired when his plane arrived at 9:05 pm.

I had lots of fun playing with my Uncle Chris!

One day, we decided to go rock climbing. I’m not even 1 and I’m already a pro. Someday, I’m going to climb high like Uncle Curtis.

There were so many cool things to explore! I had lots of fun with the noisy door stopper that went twaaang, and I loved watching the laundry get tossed about.

There were lots of things for me to climb on. I learned how to climb onto 5 gallon buckets so I could push the buttons on the microware. I also figured out how to climb from the baseboard heater to the chair so that I could play on Uncle Chris’s computer.

My favorite thing was to spend time with my grandma. We had lots of fun! We colored pictures, played in tubs, chased around the apartment, and even played in the sink!

We had lots of fun as a family!

Let’s Go Fly a Kite

We had the perfect windy weather Saturday so what better thing to do then go out and fly a kite as a family. The girls loved it and even Elise flew the kite.

Easter

Once Anna discovered there was candy in the Easter eggs, she would pick one up, open it, eat all the candy inside then then continue the hunt. The only thing Kent and I bought the girls for Easter was new toothbrushes but on Easter morning when they opened the door the Easter bunny had brought surprise Easter baskets for the girls. We have a sweet neighbor. Anna went right to the big chocolate egg and, no, she did not take a bite, but put the whole thing in her mouth at once. I need to work with her on that.

 

At our Easter gathering Anna could not get enough of Claxton the rabbit, I think she loved that rabbit a little too much. And Elise just loved tagging along with everything.

I was fortunate to get off early from work this Easter Sunday to I could enjoy the day with all the family at Grandma’s house and see my girls in cute Easter dresses.

Fun Little Things

Anna and Elise also got their first pair of matching outfits. Yea, now I can do the cute matchy matchy sister thing! I really love it and now want to attempt to make matching skirts for them when I ever have the time in my life.

Elise Loves to hide in the little space between the sink cabinet and the wall when we are in the the bathroom. She will pop her head out now and then and laugh like she has the best hiding spot in the world.

She also had learned what different objects are for. She will grab the broom and sweep the floor, or pick up a phone and put it to her ear and walk around, or pick up a comb and run it through her hair.

We have recently been teaching Anna to pray, it is so precious. We will say a phrase and then she will repeat in her little toddler voice usually only saying the last word of the phrase. This afternoon when I handed her a snack at the table she folded her arms said, “…Nana, Papa, GG, wolf..Amen.” Funny that she prays for a wolf doll that belongs to my grandmother. 

She found a little frog suit at the DI the other day and wouldn’t put it down. It being only $3 I got it for her and she loves  jumping around in it. She wouldn’t even take it off for dinner. Silly little frog.

Our Little Songbird

Around our house we have a beautiful little song bird. You can not always understand what she is singing, but it is beautiful none the less. She flits and flutters all about the house singing and dancing. We hope you enjoy this as much as we do!

Five Little Monkeys

Since Anna was a baby, whenever she has been fussy in the car I have sung to her. It has always calmed her right down and she loves it. One of her favorite songs she loves me to do in the car is: Five Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree.  

Last night on the way home from GG’s house I heard Elise starting to get fussy, then I heard some singing in the back so I turned down the radio and this is what I witnessed:  Anna was leaning over, focused on Elise, singing,, Five Little Monkey’s, in her little toddler gibberish voice, her little hands swinging in the air doing all the actions to the song, trying to sooth her fussy little sister.  I could not see Elise, she being rear facing, but she stopped fussing and her head was turned toward Anna. It made me so happy and grateful to see Anna helping her little sister and I was amazed at her soothing Elise in the exact way I have always soothed her. 

Our Sedona/Snowflake Getaway

We have never left our girls overnight and just gotten away by ourselves before; and every anniversary of ours, I have been highly pregnant soooo…. after 2 long years of waking up at night (I had not slept an entire night through for over 2 years) and constant care of little ones, we decided to get away by ourselves in celebration of our 3rd anniversary; and what a needed and amazing trip it was!!!
We left the wee ones with my parents and felt so light driving off by ourselves as the air of responsibility blew away in the breeze. This might seem weird but it was amazing to just jump out of the car, run into a store, come back out real quick, and get in the car and go.  We were headed for an adventure.
Our first night we stayed in Sedona, had Thai food, and went Mountain biking amongst the red rocks which was so awesome and fun. We biked Submarine rock trail loop and climbed up the formation at chicken point. Kent, the great handy man that he is, disassembled the two bikes, put them both in our little trunk, and reassembled them again at the trailhead. Our leg muscles and break fingers were pretty worn out after the ride. It was nice to feel worn out and tired after riding hard.


The second night was spend in Snowflake at the cute little Heritage Inn Bed and Breakfast. We love little towns and have been wanting to see Snowflake, the town where a lot of my Jesse N. Smith ancestors are from. It was a delightful little town and we had a fun time. Highlights were eating at the pasta Nazi, Enzo’s Italian Restaurant, and having to split a meal there 'cause we didn't bring enough cash, an amazing breakfast at the Inn with strawberry syrup, going to the Snowflake Temple, seeing where my grandma used to live, touring the Jesse N. Smith memorial home, the Trapper’s Diner, and standing on a corner in Winslow, AZ, such a fine sight to see. We had a wonderful, enjoyable time there.

Oh, and I can’t leave out another fun experience: We were getting ready to go the temple and Kent realized that he forgot to bring nice slacks to wear, and jeans or exercise pants just would not cut it. So we went on a mad search for any store that might sell some pants, but in the tiny town of Snowflake there was nothing, we even tried a dollar store in desperation. With only about 15 minutes before we had to be at the temple we spotted a sign for a yard sell and turned down that road, jumped out, and stared digging through some old boxes of clothes. To our luck we found some grey slacks just a few sized too big for Kent, but they would work! And that is when we realized that we only had $65 cents change and they cost a dollar. We dug under the seats of the car and in pockets and luckily found a few more coins to buy the slacks. We got to the temple properly dressed just in time for our session. :)
It was such a wonderful trip and we are so grateful that we were able to do it.

Here are some videos of the mountain biking (we are novices) but had fun anyway.