A Visit to Utah!

I haven't seen my sister for 7 months! That is ridiculousness! I was so EXCITED to see her and Jake in Utah! We all gathered together for our friend Rachel's wedding! It was a great excuse to get together. These are the pictures that I took of the trip...Lora, of course took the amazing pictures and as soon as they are edited I will make a slideshow and post them too. Friday we spent the morning and early afternoon re-exploring Temple Square and the new (GORGEOUS) mall! It was a beautiful day and I would say one of the most PERFECT days that I have had in a long time...it makes me teary eyed remembering the feeling we had to be with our family and being in SLC! We miss the Olesens deeply, but it was GRAND to spend time with them all by ourselves! We missed you Oscar and Livy! Tori and Brooke were excited to see Jake and Lora (Brooke says Lola) and we took in all the beauty at the Temple Visitor Center. Tori LOVED the Jesus statue (aka Christus) and we took a bunch of pictures of the beautiful flowers! The girls were both smitten with Uncle Jake...so he got a lot of cuddling. Tori was walking down the Christus ramp and said, "I want to hold your hand Auntie!" TENDER!

We stayed in Hooper with Grandma and Grandpa Dinger. It was such a beautiful weekend. The girls took a few rounds in the backyard on the mower (to the girls "tractor") in their pajamas. They LOVED it!  Especially the doughnuts around the fire pit!

Our 8 month old bunny!

I know...you are thinking where are the pictures from the wedding?! I left that up to my sister...so they will be forthcoming! Sunday we invited Lora, Jake and Debra up to "The Hoop" for a BBQ and party for a certain little 4 year old! Tori specifically asked for a pink and yellow sprinkle party...and Grandma made her a beautiful pink and yeallow sprinkle cake! We had all of Tori's favorites: hot dogs, Cheetos, strawberries and lemonade (pink and yellow)! It was a blazing hot afternoon, so we all scrunched in the shade. Why does Jake have an umbrella?! Well, we were all sitiing and having a grand ol' time talking when a bird decided to do his business on Jake's arm and shirt! Ha ha ha! We had a giggle. Jake went inside to wash up and brought back out an umbrella! (Can you tell that Tori LOVES her Uncle Jake?!) It was fabulous to be with all of my BESTIES. We all laughed and enjoyed good company the whole afternoon....it was a shame when we finally had to drag ourselves away at close to 7PM! (The ride home was a LOT of crying and sleepiness...oh well, we arrived home at midnight, and I would do it again just to see my sister!)

Let's not forget the party! We all ate the delicious cake, which I thought was better than the wedding cake...kudos Gwen! Tori got some amazing girlie gifts: a vintage Sleeping Beauty Barbie, Strawberry Shortcake puzzle, Barbie movie & Barbie backpack (from the padres and her sisters), Barbie bike accessories and a bike (from both sets of grandparents...where is the bike you say? Wal-mart was sold out, we are still searching for a bike!), a Mulan doll (from Auntie Lora and Uncle Jake), Hello Kitty purse, sunglasses and chapstick (from Auntie Debra), HUGE suckers (from Auntie Joy) and a whole Mermaid package with a puzzle, Barbie Mermaid Tale 2...the movie, and necklace (from Auntie Marie)! Do you sense that she is into Barbie and pink...yeah, it is my life...how did I spawn this?!

The next day we played with all of her new toys the whole day and she was spiked with sugar from the HUGE suckers! We miss and LOVE you all and cannot wait to see you all again!

I just included this for fun...Tori took all of these pictures (except for the one with her and her puzzle) with one of my cameras. I thought they would make you smile!

HaPpY BiRtHdAy ToRi!

To our cute (not so) little Tori bug! You are 4! I cannot believe it! We LOVE you!

April...I LOVE Spring!

April means SPRING! All of my flowers are blooming...I have daffodils, tulips and nameless other purple and pink flowers springing all over my front flower bed (we will see how long they will last...Tori keeps on picking them). Our trees and lilac bushes are blossoming...we can have picnics under the trees in the shade. SIGH! It is AMAZING!

Tori is a blast! She is getting bigger by the minute. She has turned into quite the mama's helper. She feeds Katelyn (I am not sure how much of the food actually gets into her mouth!) and she has even tried to cut her own hair! Luckily it wasn't too bad! She lifted up the front of her bangs and only cut off the underside!

Here are a few of the lost files of Easter. I took some of these pictures on my little camera and got frustrated because the colors were coming out way bad because of the stinking florescent lights! Brooke did the Super Why puzzle with me. She is not quite the fan of puzzles as Tori was, but she worked hard! She LOVED the picnic that we had outside (as you can tell by the HUMONGOUS smile!

And Katelyn...she is 8 months today! She is sporting her pink Adidas soccer outfit and her little pink corduroy high tops! ADORABLE...need I say more!? Katelyn got this cute little outfit in the hospital when she was born from Ursula Tingey...her adopted grandmother, I mean Auntie. The pants are supposed to fit a 0-3 month old, but they now finally fit Baby K's waist (sure they are a little high water...K is quite tall!) and the jacket is 6-9 months...and a little long, but all in all she is a DOLL! Thanks Auntie Ursula!

The Easter One!

The Easter Bunny made it to our house, although there was a sad moment for me in the whole scheme of things. Brooke accidentally found the stash of Easter candy that I had been taking care of for the Easter Bunny.  One day I was wondering where Brooke was...she was being so silent. I walked down the hall and found her in my bedroom. To my HORROR her face was covered in chocolate goo...she was eating my one and only Cadbury creme egg (I was trying to be good this year and not eat a dozen! so I only asked the Easter Bunny for one!) Well...I did get a piece that she couldn't get out of the foil...so much for savoring it! Ha ha ha! But don't worry the Easter Bunny still left me a baby Lindt bunny and Cadbury mini-eggs. Do you see Jason's ginormous Reese's egg (that Katelyn wanted to steal!)?! He almost ate it all in one sitting except for the fact that it was like almost 900 calories and that bothered him! Ha ha ha! The girls enjoyed a little pre-breakfast candy and then I took their stash and put it in the candy bowl. I know...I am mean, but someone has to control sugar intake!

 The Easter Photo Shoot

Tori...she is getting so big. This year I let her pick out her dress at Carter's. I thought that she did a great job...it was like torture for her not to wear it for 3 weeks! I LOVE her shoes (I found them at Walmart). Please note the mischievous grin in the upper left corner. and I LOVE the swing picture on the top middle...it reminds me of a model photo shoot!

Brooke...although she didn't want me to take her photo she sure hammed it up! She is such a goof ball. She wouldn't let me take a picture with her and all of the girls, so that is that. She is two, so I am lucky I got these shots! Brooke also picked this dress out for herself and calls it her princess dress (complete with silver sparkly shoes...that, against my will, I let her pick out...they left sparkles all over the pews at church!).

Katelyn...is a doll. We didn't take these pictures until after a few naps, but she is still the star of the show. She didn't get a new dress, but I thought that this one matched so well. Lets be serious...she doesn't really need a new dress (she has like 10 in her closet and only wears them on Sunday!). Although she wasn't really into the whole "Easter" thing, she LOVED playing on a blanket in the shade of our backyard!

Sisters! Tenderness!

Family...these turned out pretty well even though there were a few meltdowns from the oldest in the process. As you can see there are no pictures of me in my Easter finest, but that is ok...and Brooke wouldn't humor me either with a picture. Please find the picture of Tori's devilish smile and giggle! Hilarious!

 Dinner

Simple yet amazing! And all the better that my friend Alli brought me rolls! You rock Alli Blue! That is how we celebrated Easter! We missed all of our family, but I am grateful to Jesus Christ that we will be together forever through His sacrifice. We remember Him!

DunnDinger Extravaganza Spring 2012

Well, the end of March brought some rain, so on rainy days it calls for some puzzles, dressing up and just being silly! Katelyn still loves to try new foods...she LOVES peas, sweet potatoes, and every fruit she has tried so far. She is really into the rice husks and little bitty rice cereal crackers.

DunnDinger Extravaganza Spring 2012!!!

The Dunns came up for a visit over Conference weekend. Needless to say, conference with 4 kids under 4 is highly impossible. I don't think that I was able to listen to one full talk without an interruption. This is the first year that it has been so crazy, but it was FUN to have the Dunns come and visit! I made some of my magnificent cinnamon rolls! Mmmmm! The girls kept each other busy, and I think that Ryah and Brooke were plotting to take over the universe, but it was great to see all of them play together. We cannot call Ryah, baby Ryah anymore...she is quite the toddler. So this is going to be an extra LONG blog because when the Dunns are here we try to pack as much stuff into a weekend so that our Dunn tank is full until the next time we see them!

The Park!

Between sessions on Saturday we took the munchkin to the park to glean as much as we could out of the sunshine. We hit the park just in time too because soon after we got home the storm clouds came rolling in! This was Katelyn's first time at the park and she had a blast! She loved the sunshine and the swings. Tori is now not afraid of anything ans had a fun time playing with all the kids on the big jungle gym. Brooke was all over too...do you see the absolute glee on her face?! It was a blast! The girls all rode on the fun whirly-gig...they were a bit dizzy when they were all through! While the boys went to the Priesthood session, Tiffany and I ventured out to Walmart with all 4 kids. It went pretty well...we actually got a lot of pictures at Walmart because Tori stole Tiff's phone and took pictures of the most random things!

Egg Dying!

Sunday we dyed eggs after Conference. Jason was extremely nervous, but all in all, it went pretty well...just a few dyed fingers! This was Ryah's first egg dying fiesta...she had a lot of fun. Tori was pretty much a pro except for the fact that she wanted to plunk the egg into the dye which created quite a mess, but she still kissed all the eggs before we put them into the fridge (just like last year!)

TENDER!

What? I am in a picture!?

Zoo Time!

Quite possibly the cutest baby in the universe!

Jason took Monday off and we took the kids to the Zoo! It was Ryah's and Katelyn's first trip to the zoo. They loved to see all of the animals and it was a beautiful morning! Although there are no pictures (the viewing area was crowded with an elementary school field trip), we got to watch the lions eat! They put this box filled with long tubes that contain meat in them right in front of the viewing window, and the lionesses played with all of the tubes and with each other right in front of us! It was awesome! Of course I LOVE the wallaby exhibit. Tori loved the giraffe. Brooke & Ryah just loved running around like banshees!

Favorite exhibits: penguins and the prairie dogs! Make these pictures big and look at their faces in the prairie dog domes! Hilarious!

Although the tigers were sleeping (just like Katelyn) the girls struck a pose on the tiger seat.

The famous Giraffe Slide!

 

 

Flatbread Pizza!

With all that walking, we needed to fill our tank with some delicious pizza from Flatbread Community Oven! Yummy!!! The girls made their own pizzas and I devoured some of their scrumptious macaroni and cheese & a mini pizza bianco magnifico that has onions, fresh mozzarella, chicken, prosciutto, and it is drizzled in balsamic vinegar (if your mouth is not watering you are insane!). If people in the Boise area have not been to this restraunt...GO!

The Egg Hunt!

When we were living in Orem, we would always have Family Home Evening with the Dunns. So when they come we have amazing FHEs with awesome activities. This year they visited close to Easter, so we did an Easter themed FHE complete with a cartoon from Living Scriptures on the Resurrection. Then we had an Easter egg hunt! This was Ryah's first hunt, and boy was she ready! Although she had more fun taking her eggs out of the basket and putting them on the swing!

Brooke found a stash!

And I guess if you can have a winner, Tori took the egg! She found more than her share of eggs, but she gratefully shared with the other little girls.

All things must come to an end...it was hard to see the Dunns go, but this time we will see them in just two more weeks! See you soon and we miss you already!

Here Comes the Sun...Spring Fever!

Well...Spring is here, which means there is a lot of playing outside here! YES! But Spring also means rain, so there is a lot of staying inside. So to fight our Spring Fever we do a LOT of playing! Tori LOVES to play on the computer and is on starfall.com every afternoon while Brooke takes a nap. She is learning how to read and she loves to play the word games. As you can see from the pictures above, she also LOVES to pose for the camera. For fun, we take the camera out ans she poses and makes funny faces or does dance moves (I think that I am going to put her in a ballet class during the summer just for fun). Tori is "hiyarious" (she says most of her l's as y's). Her other pastimes include finding bugs and other creatures in the dirt (please refer the worm above) and cooking with me.

Brooke is our comedian. She is always trying to make something funnier than reality. I LOVE the spaghetti mustache. She really LOVES to walk around in my shoes and by the end of the day she has at least three pairs of my shoes in our living room. Brooke is also a future photographer...she will pick up anything and put it up to one of her eyes and says "Say cheese!" and make a clicking noise. Some of her fake cameras include cheese graters (as pictured above) and blocks. She LOVES to follow Tori around and tries to do everything Tori does. Her new favorite feat is to climb on her dresser and play with all her bows! What a monkey!

Can you believe that this little girl is 7 months old!? Boy how time flies! Katelyn likes to play in her jumpie, she can now roll from her back to her front (to her chagrin), she eats at the table in a highchair, takes three naps (please refer to the happy napper above) and has just taken on the swing outside (and LOVES it!). All in all...she is a happy camper...even though I believe that she is getting in two of her bottom teeth!

All in all...we are doing well, even though Spring Fever has hit...we are enjoying the good ol' life. We have been seeing a few rainbows, enjoying a few horseback rides, and taking it easy. Aren't my kids just the cutest!

Last night for FHE we planned our garden. Yippee!!! Tori cannot wait to get her hands in that dirt! I really hope that we actually get zucchini here this year!

Hanging Out with Silly Girls, Veggies and Tall Towers

Well, we hang out at the house a lot...I try and get out of the house every once in a while. We have a schedule: Monday-we stay in the house because I have a mountain of laundry to do, Tuesday-we sometimes go to the store or invite friends over, Wednesday- same as the day before, Thursday-we go to the Library for reading time and checking out books, Friday- more hanging out... I cannot wait until it is nice enough to go to a park or something. I mean, we are still a little bit bound to the house because of Katelyn's naps and feedings, but she is good about sleeping in her car seat. So we do a lot of reading, dancing, pretending, playing outside (thank heavens for a backyard!), playing with toys, watching shows, and playing Starfall.com. (Tori can now navigate the whole site by herself and find her favorites! AWESOME!) What keeps me busy besides 3 kids? Reading, Blogging, and Family History Indexing. F.U.N.

(Lora, I think Katelyn looks like Liv in some of these pictures!) Katelyn is loving her new meals! She has tried rice cereal, peas, green beans and carrots. She is also old enough to rough house with Daddy too...she is playing one of the girls' favorites: BONK JIUW (that is like shoo with a little "J" lisp).

Last night we had Family Home Evening (aka FHE) with the girls. Our lesson was on the Tower of Babel and we made the tower with Jenga blocks! They LOVED this lesson. I got it off of Pinterest here. We will be trying lots of those lessons I am sure! Katelyn even got in on it...she LOVED chewing the blocks. Jason's tower hit 11 before it tumbled down. Of course the favorite part was making the towers fall and then building them back up again. We played for almost an hour! (We need to invest in some wooden blocks)

Once There Was a Snowman and Other Shenanigans

We got some snow last Thursday after I bought the girls some snow boots for $5 at Wal-Mart! So we put them to good use! Tori immediately went outside and made a snow angel! Brooke was not so much of a fan, but she looked dang cute in her hat and boots!Tori was in snow heaven!

We made a snowman and sang the snow man song...sadly Tori then proceeded to destroy the snowman. I guess that was his fate because although this is what it looked like at noon, by the time Jason got home it was all melted! This was Tori's very first snowman.

Katelyn, on the other hand, stayed inside all comfy cozy in her swing. She did not want to check out the snow quite yet. As for the shenanigans...well, they always abound in our house. (Did you check out Brooke's BLUE eyes! And have you noticed that Tori's eyes are the color of amber or honey...or as I call them: a nice shade of blonde!)

Well, little miss Katelyn tried her first taste of "real" food (rice cereal) on the first day of March. Her first reaction...gagging and dry heaving. She couldn't even keep down a tablespoon full! The next morning (pictured above in her red PJs) she devoured a whole half an ounce and by today she eats a whole 2 ounces of cereal. She even had her very first bottle with formula! (I told Jason that now that Katelyn can drink out of the bottle I will be free to leave him with the kids for LONG periods of time...he looked at me with a stressed out smile and said, "Right!" Ha ha ha!) She is such a doll! I think tonight she will be trying green beans...yummy-yummy!