Firsts

These last 2 months have been a lot of firsts for our family:

1. Ella's first time going to Dance at Miss Julie's all by herself.

2. Ella's first day of Preschool with Mrs. Brown

3. Last but not least, Marta's First birthday!!!

I can hardly believe what has happened to my little girls. Ella in preschool... Marta turning 1... Where has the time gone?

The only thing that worries me more... time is only going to go faster.

Where does the time go?

I honestly can't believe how fast time goes. Ella is closer to 4 than she is 3. Marta is almost 1... and our summer flew by! School ended the beginning of June and as of today we've been in school for almost 2 weeks. Wow, time just goes faster and faster...

We had a fantastic summer! It is so nice not being pregnant, I actually had energy this summer. The girls and I went swimming, for bike rides, and of course to the park. As a family, once again we were lucky enough to be able to go back down to California.

We went down to California with my family. There are quite a few of us there now. We no longer fit in 1 condo.

We decided to go to Knott's Berry Farm this trip. Ella is a thrill seeker, just like her dad. She often asks when we can go back to the beach and Knott's.

We have so much fun with cousins when we are there. This picture is Ella playing with Jack. She and Jack love each other... as you can see.

This was Marta's second beach trip. The first time we took her she was too small to go in the water. Not this summer. Just like Ella, Marta is a fish! She loved the water! Before we left to go to California Marta was doing the army crawl everywhere. I was not looking forward to the beach because I knew she would have mouthfuls of sand and she would get frustrated because it would be hard to move. Well, let's just say she quickly learned to crawl on her hands and knees.

Ella loved the beach of course! She definitely is a beach bum. The greatest thing about the beach is we get out early and the kids find entertainment in the sand, water, and beach toys ALL DAY LONG! She had a wonderful time with all of her cousins. We had a hard time getting her to leave the beach at night.

The girls are getting so big. Ella starts pre-school this week. Where does the time go? She'll be going to a little neighborhood preschool with her cousin Owen. I am so excited for her. I know she'll love it. However, I would be lying though if I said I haven't shed a few tears about her being this big.

Once Marta started crawling, she quickly started pulling herself up on furniture. Now she is walking around it. Where does time go? Those thighs in the beach video.... well they aren't as chubby anymore. She also added 6 more teeth to her collection. 4 on top and the 4 on the bottom. Crazy!

We had a wonderful time once again at the beach. We honestly wish we could be there every weekend. We are just so grateful that our kids like it as much as we do.

Summer can officially begin!

Summer can officially begin. I am done with any classes that I scheduled for and and ready for summer.

The girls and I are ready for swimming, sun, and fun. Hopefully I will remember to take pictures.

Our Memorial Day Celebrations

Instead of heading south to warmer weather for memorial day. We decided to head to the mountains. We didn't have a BBQ up in the mountains though. Well, some of you are probably asking yourself... " Isn't there still snow?" Yep... there sure is...

This is proof:

We went sledding and snowmobiling at Brighton. We had sooo much fun. There was still a ton of snow that hadn't melted and to make it even better. There was 2' of fresh powder. We went with the other Snows and the Cracrofts. Thanks to Weston (Brennan's little brother) we went up the slope on the snowmobile and went down on the sleds. Going up o the snowmobile was the best part. We all had grins from ear to ear.

This is a picture of Corey and Weston preparing the snowmobile and sled for our enjoyment. As you can see it was snowing while we were up there.

The kids were really good sports, even Marta. She loves being out door and only got fussy when it was time to eat and to take a nap.

I think we, the adults, enjoyed the sledding more than the kids. It was too fast for Ella and so she and Owen found a nice little "bunny" hill they could slide down on their butts.

We had such a fun time we want to do it again. This could very well happen because there is honestly still a lot of snow in the mountains.

Picture Day

In the month of March, I took the girls to get their pictures taken. I am really pleased with how they turned out. Here are a few:

My brown-eyed and blue-eyed girls.

So, funny story about the princess dress. She was supposed to be wearing her blue sweater, pink shirt and cute pants. Well instead, like your classical 3 year old, she found the princess dresses at the photographer's house. I tried my hardest to get the her to take it off, but sometimes you have to pick your battles. This one I figured, was not worth it.

2 posts in 6 months

6 months ago today, my life became even more happy and full. (I have only done 2 posts with Marta, I've got to get better) I can't believe that Marta is already 6 months old. I couldn't believe how fast time went with Ella. But with child #2, things have gone by even faster.

Happy 6 months months, my sweet little "pumpkin"

Much needed update

Needless to say, this is a much needed update. Let's see, where do I start...?

December... We had a wonderful December and Christmas. We had a couple of nice snow storms. Ella loved going outside and sweeping(don't have a little shovel) while Brennan shoveled our driveway and walks. Meanwhile, Marta and I enjoyed the warmth our our house while decorating our Christmas tree. Speaking of Christmas, we had a very Merry Christmas. It was a lot of fun having 2 girls instead of just one. It was also a lot of fun because Ella finally understood the whole "Santa" thing. Santa brought Ella way too many presents, but it was really fun to see her enjoy them as much as she did. We had a lot of fun with with both families and love our time together.

January... Well all good things must come to an end. I started back at school at the beginning of January. It was sure hard leaving my girls that I had been with 24/7 for 2 1/2 months. Luckily though, I only work 2 or 2 1/2 days a week so I still get to spend some very valuable time with my girls. We had a very fun and eventful January. First of all, we were able to spend an enjoyable week at the beach. We are so lucky to go down to Southern California 2 times a year. This year we had an incredibly warm week while we were there. It was so enjoyable to get out of cold, inversion filled SLC valley and feel the warm sun on our faces. We spent many days playing the beach. One day, my parents, Ella and I went one day to Disneyland. We had such a fun time seeing Princesses, Woody, Jessie and all the fun rides. We had a blast! Disneyland was so real to Ella this year. We waited in line to see the Princesses for 45 minutes but, she loved seeing them. She still talks about the Princesses. We had a wonderful time at the beach and can't wait to go down again in 6 months. We also had a huge milestone with Marta. During January, she became very interactive with all of us. She started smiling and even, if we work hard enough, laughing. She is very high maintenance but she is such a joy in our lives. We can't picture our lives with out her.

We also celebrated Ella's 3rd birthday. I can't believe that it has already been 3 years. She is such a joy in our lives. She is an amazing big sister and daughter. Well, since we had such a fun week before with Princesses we decided to keep with that theme. She wanted a pink cake with pink frosting. Well, that's just what she got. After dinner and cake we took her and Chris (brennan's mom) to see Tangled. To top it off she got a Princess bike from Mom and Dad and wonderful presents like Tinkerbell dolls and a bike helmet from her Grammy and Aunt Susan. We had a wonderful night.

I promise to try to keep up with our blog so you can all see Ella and Marta grow.