Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Just pictures but the faces tell everything.

Bartlett Reservoir and Dreams

Kent and I would drive out to Bartlett Reservoir often the summer before we had kids just to swim and enjoy ourselves. We didn’t have a boat or any fancy lake toys. We just went exploring, found a quite cove and went swimming; we had fun. Every time we were there we talked about getting a little raft so we could explore the lake more. That fall we did buy a little raft, excited to go back to the reservoir and try it out. But the weather cooled down, then we had a baby, and another summer past, and we had another baby, and another summer past and that little longed for raft never got used.

The other day we had a rare Saturday free together as a family.This is very rare for us as I am working whenever Kent is at home with the kids and he is working whenever I am at home with the kids. So we don’t have many “Saturdays” together as a family.

Our opportunity had come. We got the kids and that new-old raft and headed to the reservoir. We wanted to go back for a long time.

Ok, I am not going to lie. When I had imagined that raft three years ago I had imagined Kent and I just paddling together around so nice and peaceful. Stopping here and there and and jumping out and swimming together out to some rock and back. Exploring the shores, no time restraints, no worries, just us, the sun, the water, and the raft. This trip with our long hoped for raft wasn’t at all like I imagined. I guess I knew it wouldn’t be, but I still wanted it to be. 

We still had fun out there. I loved watching Anna and Elise sitting in the water, smiling as the waves splashed up on their legs and becoming so interested in picking up handfuls of wet sandy rocks then letting them drop through their fingers. I guess having children means giving up some dreams for better ones.

Duck Duck Goose at our House

Duck, Duck, Goose!!! A simple game, right? At our house with a 2 year old and a 1 year old this game is fun and has a few changes. Here are a few of the things that the girls have done to make this game special at our house.

First, the funnest part is chasing around the circle. Therefore, there should be more of it. That means multiple laps around the circle. You don't stop running around the circle until mom or dad remind you that you are supposed to sit.

Second, The emphasis on running also means that regardless of whether you were it or tagged you can also stand up and join the frenzied chase. The more the merrier.

Third, you can show off your ability to learn new words. Elise learned to say Duck and Goose in order to play this game. She was so proud of herself learning the new words that she would stand behind a single person and continuously pat their heads saying Duck. This would go on until mom and dad reminded her to walk around the circle touching other peoples heads and reminding her that she can say Goose too.

Tea Parties and More

Ever since Anna got invited to a cousin’s house for her first tea party she has been asking to have another one. So I promised her if she would learn to do poo poos in the toilet, 3 times, we would have one. She did it, and we bought a tea set and had a party. Note: a table cloth under the party area is a must with a 1 yr old.

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The girls also love love love to have popcorn parties which we do here and there, especially on stormy days.

I will often find the girls playing with random things in the closet like this,

or Anna squeezing Elise to death like this, or this.

Elise has been spending hours lately trying to figure out how to put on her sandals by herself. They usually end up like this and then she will go walking around the house with them flopping around her ankles.

Every time auntie Shay Shay calls Anna will sit and talk to her for awhile. She thinks she is so grown up talking on a phone.

And of course when things are going smoothly, sickness strikes. This past week Anna came down with roseola and let me tell you it has been a hard week of no sleep, fevers, and crankiness. Oh dear, let this be over and let Elise not get it too.

Songs By Anna

Anna is our little Bird. She loves to sing and to be sung to. She knows lots of songs too and is always walking around the house singing. Here is a few for you...

Ward Campout -2012

We couldn’t wait for our two day ward campout, to get out of the heat, and especially to let the girl run around and experience the outdoors. We prepped Anna by telling her how we were going to the mountains and we would sleep in a tent by lots of trees. She was pretty excited. We bought a new family tent since our old one was just too small for all 4 of us. This new tent is awesome and huge, an 8 man tent. The funny thing about tents is a "4 man tent" is really a 2 man tent.
When we first got there all the girls wanted to do is play in the car. We used the back of the car as our table. Kent was awesome and planned all the meals, shopped for the food, and cooked all the meals. Pretty sweet!

Kent made some scrumptious chicken dumplings for the Dutch oven potluck.

Elise, oh dear, had so much fun but she came home looking like a homeless person. She had scrapes and bruises all over her arms and legs, a cut lip and covered in dirt. Silly girl would not stop putting rocks, sticks, and dirt in her mouth. Anna was so excited about finding worms, caterpillars, bugs, neat leaves and rocks.

I took the girls on several bear hunts and they both loved it. Elise kept thinking she saw a bear and would point and say, “grrrr.”  Anna loved going through the long wavy grass, “swishy swashy swishy swashy, and through the thick ozzy mud, “squelch squerch squelch squerch” etc. At the end of the hunt we did run into a big bear in the trees which got us pretty scared, though if you looked close it might resemble a black cow, and the grrrs did sound an awfully lot like mooos, but only if you listened carefully.

We hiked in to see the Tonto Natural bridge which was pretty neat. We carried the girls in the carriers and hiked about a mile in, across boulders and over streams. There were several swimming holes and the girls loved it.

We stopped at a swimming hole and let the girls swim. They loved it.


My favorite part was hanging out with the ward members at the campfire in the evening. Such a fun ward. One night while we were all by the fire a little gnat flew in my ear, like way down in my ear and I couldn’t get it out, and nobody could see it, but I kept hearing buzzing at my ear drum; I was going crazy. The Ironic thing was when I was packing my first aid kit the one thing I took out was my otoscope thinking “why would I ever need this camping.”

We ended the campout with a nice Anna sized hike out to the Mogollon Rim.

And I think we broke our curse this campout; we left 5 minutes before it started raining.

Oh Cute Trouble

The thing about toddlers is they are trouble, trouble, trouble. They get into the powdered Gatorade and turn everything in your kitchen blue, at lunch they wipe peanut butter and jelly all over their clean hair and clothes, run from you when you are trying to get them into their car seat, color all over their faces and hands, eat chalk, sand, and soap but not their dinner, they unfold the folded clothes and put them on their heads, they push all the buttons on computers and TV’s and somehow can reprogram them too, they run, wiggle and scream during church, they wake you up in your sleep, they wipe their snotty nose on your shirt. It might seem hard to imagine how anyone would want one of these creatures called a toddler….

but somehow, and I don’t know how, I sure want mine. And I told her she can’t grow up any more.

I also forgot to mention that toddlers give the best hugs, sincerest kisses, are so loving, innocent, pure and sweet, they are so fun, and are just so dang cute. Love them!!

And let me tell you, it sure is a good thing they are so cute or else they would be in lots of trouble!