Kids Pictures

I finally got the disc of pictures!  Yay!!!  I am soooo excited!  There are so many great pictures!  I love even the ones that aren't perfect because they really show each of the kids' personalities.  I'm so excited to get prints made and make some great galleries in my house.  Now if I was just a millionaire to afford it all!

(I love this one of the three of them!)

See! So cute!

Everyday Angels

I am constantly amazed at the wondrous ways the Lord works in our lives and how He blesses us with angels here on Earth. I have learned that angels come in many forms and many times they come and don't even realize they are being an angel in my life. Many times they come when I don't even know I am needing them.  They come as friends, neighbors, family members, even strangers. And now with the technology we have, they come as bloggers, Pinterest posts, Facebook statuses and many other ways. I am grateful each and every time I am so blessed by one of these many angels.

Recently I was playing in the wonderful world of blogs and came across this talk by President Benson.  (I am not going to say too much on it, just please go read it for yourself, it really is a powerful talk) I have heard/read pieces of it like...

"When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place..."

but never knew its source. This talk really struck a chord with me. It's time for me to put the Lord first in my life. All my decisions and actions need to be based on my love for him. I am sure that if I do this, as President Benson said,

"...God’s pay is the best pay that this world or any other world knows anything about. And it comes in full abundance only to those who love the Lord and put Him first."

I know that my life will be extremely blessed if I just put the Lord and his will first and foremost in my life. Yes, I will still have trials and heartbreak but with the Lord on and by my side, I will be able to have the strength to get through anything.  I can have His comfort and love in my life every step of the way if I will just reach out and ask for it.  I know that each and every one of us can have these blessings in our lives.  They are there for the taking, we just need to do our part and reach out.

P.S. If you want to hear an extremely beautiful and powerful song, go here.  Make sure you watch the video clip too.  I love Hilary Weeks!

Ally's Hair Cut

Ally has been begging me for a while now to cut her hair and by cut her hair, I mean short. I've been putting her off because I love her long hair. She is so cute with it long. I recently cut my hair off and the first thing she said to me when she saw it was "that's how I want my hair." That night when Jim got home she told him the same thing. I had been hoping he would tell her to keep it long but nope, he said to cut it short if that's what she wanted. I lost. But after cutting her hair, I'm glad I lost. This girl looks cute with her hair any way she does it. The great news is that we could donate her hair for breast cancer wigs. It wasn't quite long enough for Locks of Love but the breast cancer foundation takes shorter hair so it worked out perfect. Ally was really happy getting her hair cut would help someone else out. Holly put her hair in a braid.

And then she started cutting. Ally's hair is so thick Holly had to cut the top layer first and then go back and cut the bottom layer. It was amazing. The cut looks really cute on her and she is extremely happy to have short hair!

Here she is with the braid that is being donated.

I have no clue what she is doing with her eyes. She is goofy.

And, here she is as we are leaving Holly's, very happy.

Kids' Pictures

It's that time of year again, the time I decide to drag my kids to get their pictures taken. This year my mom found a coupon for a place called Camera Shy so I decided to try them out. We got up, got ready and headed out to Lehi where their studio is located. The moment we walked into the studio I was in love! It is so cute!! And the girl who greeted us matched the studio, super cute! I was really happy when she informed me she would be our photographer because she had the greatest personality and was so cute with each of the kids. We went back to the room and I was shocked. All the walls are painted and decorated different so you have many backdrops. The other room is their outdoor room which has a bunch of different walls that look like they are outside like bricks, metal door, etc. I love that we got so many different options and looks without even having to leave the studio. Vanessa struggled to do what we wanted her to do but all in all, we got some really great pictures. This photographer even got Andrew to smile. I mean a real, great toothy smile. Amazing!! Camera Shy is great because they Photoshop the pictures and burn them all to a disc that I could pick up 1/2 hour later. Love it! I was disappointed when I got home and only one picture was on the disc but they were more than willing to burn me a new copy and drop it in the mail. I can't wait to get it!! Don' worry, once I do I will overwhelm you with the fabulous pics they did of my kids. For now, my at home picture will have to do.

Zoo Field Trip

Ally is first grade which means zoo field trip. She was so excited to go. This is one field trip I make sure to volunteer to go on, I know I'm crazy but I just don't like the thought of my kids at the zoo with anyone other than me. I took Vanessa with me which proved to be as interesting as I thought it would be. She does not like to be in her stroller so I did a lot of chasing her as well as trying to keep track of four 1st graders.

Here are my girls.

They were such cute girls and were really well behaved the entire time. Ally took the map at the very beginning and decided she was in charge of telling us where to go, surprise, surprise!

We decided our route and were off to see all the animals.

The zoo is currently constructing a new exhibit for seals and polar bears so they have taken out quite a few animals. Many of the other animals were sleeping and my girls got bored. We decided to spend the last little bit of time we had at the playground where all the kids had tons of fun running and playing.

Ally started throwing a fit when it was time to leave because she didn't want to ride the bus home. After many tears, threats and bribes I finally convinced her to ride the bus back to the school. I received a call from the lady we carpool with because they couldn't find Ally after school. She heard that one of the buses broke down on the way home. I felt like the world's worst mom. My poor daughter didn't ride the bus and then it breaks down on the way home! Yep, that's my luck! I went down to the school to wait for the bus to get there. All the kids and teachers and parents that were on the buses looked very tired but all were okay. Thankfully it wasn't the bus Ally was on that broke down. The bus she was on went back to rescue the other kids which she thought was pretty cool. All in all it was a really fun day spent with my two girls and the cuties in Ally's class.

Feeding Fishy

One day as I was in drying my hair Vanessa came into the bathroom and said "mom, fishy hungee." I told her that the fish wasn't hungry because Andrew fed it that morning. She said "okay Mom" and left bathroom. I came out after getting ready and found

bits of apple and popcorn floating in the fish bowl. She is definitely my entertainment throughout the day.

School Carnival

I let my kids talk me into taking them to the school carnival again this year. No, it really was a fun day filled with fun games, yummy treats and a goldfish. Yes, I said a goldfish. Andrew won not one goldfish, but two. Thankfully they let him trade one of the fish for a bag of food. Sadly, the fish has already died. One of the many reasons I do not like fish, my son's broken heart because his beloved fish didn't last a week. Darn thing!

Vanessa's favorite part, the cotton candy. Yes, she is her mother's daughter.