February {was so much better!}

After a month like January, all I can say is Hallelujah! I'm so glad February was so much better! I don't have many pictures to show for it, because I was too busy just loving the fact that we could leave the house. :) We had a lot of play dates this month and it was fabulous, but I can't find my pictures! Cookies, bounce houses, museums...the girls had a blast! Here are a few highlights:
We went to the dinosaur museum for the first time ever and the girls loved it. They thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of the dinosaur skeletons and reading about them. I think their favorite was walking through the pitch black room that has a catwalk down the middle and displays stars everywhere. They kept asking to go back and do it again.
We played at a bounce house place for 3 hours one day with some friends! Molly loves to go on the big slides even though she can be a little slow climbing up. McKinley was very sweet to spend the last 30 minutes hanging out with Molly because Molly really wanted her.
My Grandma Thomas was in town for eye surgery and we got to spend a Sunday with her. My girls really loved spending time with her and would randomly run up and give her hugs and then run away again with their cousins.

On to a couple of things with some pictures. Valentines rolled around and the girls were pretty excited. I got them little Valentine socks that I gave them in the morning and we had Cinnamon rolls for breakfast. You would have thought they won the lottery! Then, at lunch Robbie came home with presents. He decided that since he is the only boy in our house that Valentine gifts were all up to him and he brought them home at lunch. McKinley got a game for her Leap Pad and randomly throughout the day kept saying Robbie was "the best Dad ever" and he always knew "exactly what she wanted." Molly got a Dora doll and literally almost fell off her chair with excitement. She still can't get enough of that doll! As if their day couldn't get any better, they also got a package from Nana in the mail with a Valentine surprise and had to call her right away. My goodness these two were on cloud nine all day!

Later that night, we went to the cabin in Bear Lake for Presidents Day. We had such a great time, just like we do every year. We went up on a Thursday night and it was just us and my grandparents and I don't think that has ever happened before. We left the house around 7:30 and had hopes the girls would sleep on the way there. No chance! Those two talked and giggled for the entire 2 1/2 hour drive. Several times I was asked if we were going to swim in the lake, because "it could get sunny and warm Mom!" When we got there after 10 they were so excited to see my grandparents that they just started running around like crazy, playing with puzzles, wearing necklaces and telling my grandparents anything they could think of. We finally got them to bed around 11:30!
After all of that I thought they would sleep in, but they didn't, they were up at 7. The plan was for Robbie to take McKinley skiing for her first time and she was so excited she just "couldn't sleep anymore". We all got dressed and headed to Beaver Mountain, so Molly and I could get pictures and take McKinley back with us at lunch. McKinley was doing a half day and Robbie was going all day (my dad and brothers were meeting up with him). When we got to Beaver Mountain I was a mess of jealousy! It was the perfect day to ski; the sun was shining, there was fresh snow, it wasn't too windy or cold and the lines were all but non-existent; not to mention the fact that I couldn't ski with my little girl on first day ever! I kept thinking "I could ski, I'll stick to the groomers and I won't fall", but I know myself better than that and the black diamonds and Moguls and trees would be too big a temptation for me to stay away, so we stuck to the plan. Robbie spent half the day with her, teaching her little things here and there, but mostly enjoying that his daughter was enjoying skiing. By the end we got exactly what we had hoped for; she wanted to go again, had a great time (was even a little too warm), she could ski in a pizza shape, successfully get off the "magic carpet" with no help and ski without holding hands if Robbie was going backwards in front of her. We ended the day with Grandma treating her to some Cheetos (her choice) at the lodge and headed home with a happy and tired girl.

We spent the rest of the weekend with another ski day for Robbie, sledding for all of us, lots of visiting and tons of fun with all the cousins there. I even won a prize for Carmel popcorn! The winter never feels complete until we have been on this trip and after a crappy January it even made me love snow again!

Goodbye February, we loved you, thanks for making life so much better again!

January

January wasn't much of a month worth blogging about, although it did start off lovely. We woke up New Years Day and decided to take the girls to Kneaders for breakfast. The breakfasts there are so HUGE! The girls had pancakes and Robbie and I had the french toast, it was all so tasty!

After breakfast we went sledding to a  nearby park. I love sledding and have so many found memories of it from childhood. This was Molly's firs time really sledding. I've taken her in years past, but this year she wanted to go down the hill alone. Both girls giggled and laughed. Molly needed a few breaks in the car because she was getting cold from eating the snow with her bear hands, licking her fingers and sticking that wetness back in her gloves.

Robbie is the best to sled with, he makes everything fun. He and McKinley were coming up with funny ways to go down the hill and loving every minute of it.
So, that was the first day of January and it basically went totally down hill from there really fast. :( I got sick a few days later with Influenza A. It was HORRIBLE. I had a fever of 104 and felt like I was going to die. All the doctors were saying how I had to watch it so close, because it's especially awful if you are pregnant. I had to wear a mask around the house so as not to spread my disease. I hope the masks doctors wear are better than mine, because my face got so hot! :) I was quarantined for about a week and a half, but it felt like a lifetime.

Then we finally rejoined the real world. It was wonderful, for about 4 days. We went to the grocery store, Airbourne and enjoyed some sunshine, snow and fresh air.

 Then, illness struck again. This time it was poor little McKinley. She got influenza B. I was glad it was B, because that meant I didn't give it to her, but I was sad, because that meant we could all get it again. She was so sick and just when she was getting over it, she ended up with a massive ear infection. In total with her, we were quarantined about another week and half.

So, basically, I was really excited for January to be over. I think it was quite possible one of the worst January's I have ever had. By the time it was over, we were all so happy to be out of our house and feeling well again. So far February has been much better!

A Quick Review

Should I just give up after months and months of not blogging? No, I think I'll try again. Should I make some commitment saying I'll blog every so often? No, I don't think I'll do that either. I think for now I'll just say, after a long hiatus I'll give it another shot! So, where did I leave off....oh yes, It was April, tonight perhaps I'll try to make it to December.

Well, in April we moved. We had a great summer and spent a lot of our time working on this...when we were home:

The new house had a lot of things we liked and lot of things we liked the future vision of! :)

Robbie did almost all of the work himself. He built a rock retaining wall and a brick-ish one, built a flagstone landing in front of the shed, hired someone to excavate where the playground would go, re-routed the sprinkling system and added some lines, moved 4 fruit trees, planted 6 new trees and one new bush, laid sod in berms we didn't like, redesigned flower beds, put in new weed fabric and bark, built a playground, moved a tramp in, laid out sand for the sandbox and wood chips for the playground bed, had a patio poured, painted the entire outside of the house (well the stucco, not the brick) gray and got us a killer deal on a fence to trap our little hooligans in the yard. Not that he was busy or anything! :) Ironically, we didn't take any afters...hahaha! You'll just have to wait until the snow melts to see the real finished product. In the meantime, here are some in the background that you can sort of see.

 Here you can see that the girls got a tramp and a playground...you can also get a glimpse of one of our trees and the bark and wood chips

 This is sort of a shot of the new large patio and the new gray house!

 Here you can kind of see how Robbie shaped the beds and again a sort of shot of the gray

This is the flagstone Robbie laid in front of the shed and over there in the dirt is where we moved our four fruit trees

In May we had McKinley's birthday. She turned 4...holy cow! She had two birthday parties; one with her friends from Swendy's that was princesses and knights at the Discovery Gateway and the other at home with her family where there was a Tangled theme. I don't think she could have been more thrilled with her birthday this year, she was on cloud nine for sure.

 

It also brought another should dislocation for Robbie the day before we were supposed to speak in our new ward. I would say he planned it to get out of it, but the pain I saw him in is not something he would have done voluntarily. This time around they suggested surgery, so the planning started.

June was a little quieter, which was welcome. We celebrated our 9th anniversary which was awesome.

Mike, Ingrid, Henry, Mila and Winston (the first dog my children have ever liked) stopped for a super fun visit during their move from Edmond, Oklahoma to Portland, Oregon. The ladies all went to pedicures....including the oldest of the girl cousins. :)

July was a busy month, we went to a parade and a couple of funny things happened. First, Molly was just chilling and then all of the sudden she started dancing like crazy and I couldn't figure it out, but then I heard it, the upcoming float was playing her favorite song...Katy Perry's Firework, yep, you heard right, that was and IS her favorite song. Later as the American flag came by there was no music playing, but McKinley stood straight up, covered her heart, walked to the edge of the parade line and started belting out "God Bless America!" She sand the whole song. The crowd was silent and a lot of people were smiling big smiles, watching the cute little patriotic girl sing her heart out! It was a moment I won't forget and I don't think that song will ever be the same for me. :)

 

 We also had the Thomas Family reunion in Bear Lake and the Loomis Family reunion in Syracuse where we not only had a lot of fun, but also celebrated John's (my FIL) birthday! Intermixed in the fun chaos was my last day of work and a 24th of July celebration and McKinley having her first cavity filled (they had to put her totally under because she was so un-ruley)

 

 

 

 

August...this was my first month at home with the girls full time. We had a great time going on bike rides, playing at parks, hitting up the library, swimming and in the middle of it all McKinley started school at her new pre-school and she started her first year of dance class.

 

We also had the annual Raspberry Days reunion which was it's typical blast with the visiting, the playing the 5K, the boating and the beach...ahhhh I love Bear Lake.

Robbie went on a 3 day trip with the young men and my Dad had a big Birthday. To celebrate the birthday we all packed up for another trip to Bear Lake. Tattoos, old music on the record player, boating and just hanging out...I think it was a great trip for everyone.

Our last trip for August was  a last minute trip up to Hebgen with some friends. I have never been there before and let me tell you...it is beautiful! We had a great time, visiting, staying up playing games, taking unspecified medication, playing at the beach and having a fire outside. I was so sad to see our summer going, but it was a great way to send it out!

 

September made it seem like we were finally back to real life. A lot of the big things in the yard were complete. The smell in the air started to change to that wonderful smell I always equate with going to BYU football games with my dad and I turned 31. I love getting older, does that make me weird? 

No big trips, but a lot of play dates with friends. We were just loving being in the outside air.

         

 

 

Robbie stayed home with us for a week while he painted the house and lots of things changed in that one week...For one, Robbie's pride and joy...his road bike was stolen. Don't worry though, he purchased three road bikes to get over the trauma (he currently still has two, though I'm hoping it goes down to one in the spring) and he loves them even more than his last bike, so life goes on. It was also September when sickness kicked in full swing for me (though it never had done this with the previous two) and we found out about the new little addition that was to join our family....a little girl. I also found out this week that I was going to be the new Primary President in our ward. So, I guess September was eventful in it's own way.

In October I tried my best not to want to just die from feeling so sick, not to be dramatic or anything! :) We had a lot of play dates to keep up busy and a lot playing outside because it was so unusually warm.

 Halfway through the month we had Robbie's shoulder surgery. We planned it for October so we could have a normal summer and he would healed enough to catch the end of ski season (that's how normal people plan their surgeries, right? around ski season and summer vacations?) I will spare him the embarrassment of photos, but just image a huge sling with balls attached and a huge pillow between his arm and his belly, it was crazy big!
As Halloween approached we had a Strawberry Shortcake and Minnie Mouse on our hands. We carved pumpkins with Nana and Papa again this year, which is always fun. I try to make pumpkins something the kids can do themselves. This year, McKinley was old enough to clean her pumpkin and pick out the design and carve it. However, at almost 2 Molly wasn't quite ready, so I let her help clean it and then picked up this cute which potato head thingy that she got to shove in the pumpkin, it was a lot of fun.

 

 

 

Halloween Night we invited my siblings and parents over for spaghetti dinner and trick or treating...we had a great time and way too much food!

I was still sick in November. Robbie went back to work, no more leisurely days in pain at home, just trying to type one handed and having his wife call or text him every few hours to make sure he was ok.

Molly also turned two. It's funny, she is a little miniature one around here and to think of her as a big two year old just melted my heart. Being Minnie Mouse crazy, it only made sense that would be the theme for her birthday party. She had a great time with all the family that came.

 

 

Thanksgiving came a couple of weeks later. We were with my family this year and the older cousins even had a sleepover with Grandma. It was the first time we had Thanksgiving in Salt Lake with just our family (I say just and it still entails 24 of us!). We had a great time and even got in some family pictures.

We wrapped up November with McKinley first ever dance recital. She danced to the song from the Grinch that goes "You're a mean one, Mr Grinch...." at the Festival of Trees. We did her hair like Cindy Lou from the movie and Mom (me) had a hard time seeing her little girl look so grown up dancing on stage.

 And on the very last day of November we went on a sleigh ride in Midway with Nana and Papa to see Santa. Neither of our girls will sit on Santa's lap (something Robbie thinks is great, because he's a stranger, they shouldn't want to sit on his lap....), but they both LOVE Santa and Molly is especially obsessed.

 

December, phew, I made it to December after all! Robbie thought he was turning 36 this December, but really only turned 34, that was pretty funny! The girls put on a puppet show, a parade a program and a hunt for his presents. Plus, we had cupcakes and eclairs for dinner!

 

 

With Christmas coming, we talked about presents and for months McKinley kept saying all she wanted were unicorn stompeez, a dream light and some cuddly buddy thing. Molly quickly grasped you could asked for things and the only thing she asked for were Minnie Mouse stompies, which do not exist- but don't worry, she was more than thrilled with her Minnie Mouse slippers, which we call stompeez :) .

We had a lot of Christmas parties, decorated the house, saw the lights, checked out the elves at Gardner Village and made sugar cookies with friends. By the time Christmas came we were feeling very festive!

 

Here are some pictures, the girls had a wonderful Christmas and we hope you did too!

 

 

The day after Christmas we had one last surprise...we found out our new addition is another little girl and the tech gave each of the girls a "picture of the baby". She is going to join us in May and we're so excited....if we could just agree on one more cute girl name!