Crafts & Cooking

We've done a couple of crafts this month that I thought were worth documenting. A few weeks ago Madisen created this heart lady (shown in red) with her friend, Mara. I thought she did such a cute job of making it look like a person- face & all. She even drew fingers & toes on the hands & feet. We now have them hanging in our kitchen as our Valentine decor. I haven't quite pulled out the box of decorations & at this point I don't think I will.
Today the girls had some friends over for a play date & they had fun lacing these hearts, loading them with stickers, & adding finishing touches with markers. I couldn't resist capturing the looks of concentration on my girls' faces. And it's also important to note that it was virtually silent while 5 little girls were diligently lacing.
Today I was in the driveway talking to a friend & the kids were with me playing around until they disappeared into the house. A few minutes later, Madisen came running out proudly holding her peanut butter & sugar sandwich. I came in to find that she had helped herself to the ingredients, which included the heel of the bread. This is a girl who doesn't eat crust on anything, but today she ate almost the entire thick heel, crust & all.
{Side note: My girls prefer cinnamon & sugar to honey or jelly on their sandwiches. To each his own!}

Happy New Year!

We rang in the new year with some friends at our house. We enjoyed dinner, games, good company, yummy treats, movies & our kids.
Madisen, Mara, Caitlyn, & Wyatt devouring their popcorn while watching the "Tinkerbell" movie.

On New Years Day the weather was ideal for the park. Madisen rode her bike all over & Caitlyn pulled her new wagon around. She had just as much fun pulling the wagon as riding in it!My girls favorite activity at the park is the swings! I love that they can still share the baby swing so we don't have to fight over it.

{Not the best picture, but they are both smiling!}

The rest of the day we relaxed, worked on prjects at home, went to dinner, made some family goals for the new year, and ran some errands. It was so nice to have a day with daddy in the middle of the week!

Christmas in Utah

We got to spend Christmas with my family in Utah! It was a perfect week!! The girls and I arrived late Sunday night, but Bill had to work up through Christmas Eve.

I didn't take too many pictures-I was on vacation! Here are just some of the things we loved: relaxing at grandma's * playing with our cousin Caden * lots of sledding * the elves at Gardner Village * a brunch with Grandma & Grandpa Carruth, Uncle Bob, Aunty Christy & Aunt Becky * dancing to the music from Aunt Kellie's train * SNOW! * grandma's toys * drinking hot chocolate * the annual Christmas puzzle * late night movies * visiting great-grandpa's store * giving a gift to Jesus * seeing our extended family on Christmas day! Thanks for the wonderful vacation grandma & grandpa!

For FHE we bundled up to go see the lights at Thanksgiving point. We chose to ride in the horse drawn 'sleigh' and it was FREEZING! The girls ejoyed watching the horses, singing carols, and waving at the characters. After our ride we got to see 2 real reindeer- did you know they can smell food 3 feet deep?

Our Christmas Eve dinner- minus Bill who was en route. You can't see how festive it it... but almost the entire meal was red & green complete with a Santa Claus jell-o!

Christmas morning we were pleased to wake up to a small snow storm.
Madisen's highlight from Santa was her pink dolly cradle. She asked for it about 1 week before Christmas so the elves sure were scurrying to make that last minute gift happen. Miracles never cease b/c I found the perfect cradle on KSL Classifieds and thanks to great-grandpa it is perfectly painted pink!
And sweet Caitlyn only wanted a vacuum. This is a year we'll never forget! She came down with a cold on Christmas morning and just wasn't feeling like herself. After she explored her stocking & tried out her new vacuum, she was content to snuggled up with grandpa. She opened a gift & was content playing with a new toy when Madisen brought over another gift for her to open. Caitlyn looked at her with all sincerity and said, "I no need present. I already have one." After she said it the 2nd time Madisen said, "But Caitlyn, on Christmas you get to open up lots of presents!" Ah, the innocence of youth. If I only knew how to bottle up her need for only 1 present we'd be set for life!
Madisen is such a tender & thoughtful girl! She had just as much fun passing out presents to everyone as she did opening them. And it was neat to watch her be genuinely interested as the person opened the gift she'd delivered to them.
Caitlyn's other favortie gift was her new bike helmet. She wore it for quite a while & even wore it the next day.
Uncle Stew (Bill's good friend) sent Madisen a princess tent that came with a sleeping bag. She slept in it every night after that!
Aunt Tiffy made the girls these wands & princess crowns. Madisen calls the crown her princess hair.
I didn't get any pictures of us sledding... but Madisen also discovered the joy of making snow angels & trapsing through deep snow. She was old enough to really have fun in the snow this year!
We went to the movies one night to see "The Tale of Desperaux". We give it 1 thumb up. The plot was way over their heads, but they loved the atmosphere of being in the theater.
We can't figure out how to get them all to look at the camera at the same time.?

On the way home, we got to stop in St. George to visit with Great-Grandma & Grandpa Dodds & meet our new cousin Laynee. They just wanted to hold her... but they had to do it 'myself'!

Looks like we're ready for a new baby sister!

Halloween Night

Phew- the last Halloween post for this year! We had a perfect All Hallow's Eve! I made our traditional dinner in a pumpkin with orange jell-o, cooked carrots, and rolls. After dinner all we had to do was slip on the girls' dresses and we were ready for trick-or-treating. We snapped a few pictures in our front yard... and even managed to get one with Caitlyn smiling.
Part way through our route we found the train stop so the girls took a ride to rest their feet. A big thanks to the Hulet's for sharing their train with the whole neighborhood- we all LOVE it!
And then it was on to more trick-or-treating. Madisen really caught the spirit of running from house to house, knocking, getting the candy, thanking the people, and running to the next house. Caitlyn enjoyed being pushed in the stroller & wanted to get out at each house. She was not too shy to hold out her bucket & say 'Trick-er-Treat'! Followed by 'Thank You'! (Sadly we didn't get a great picture of the kids on the door step.)

We were lucky enough to run in to Sarah Palin. She was campaigining right here in our neighborhood that night! This lady was hamming it up- accent and all!

Happy Halloween!

These are some Halloween pictures I've taken that I' haven't posted. A few weeks ago we frosted cookies with our friends Isaac, Easton, & Ethan. Of course my girls LOVED eating the dough, frosting, and the cookies.

Below are some Halloween crafts that we've done. We got the bat idea from my crafty friend Laura & Madisen just made the house this week- thanks to her friend Mara.
Happy Trick-or-Treating!!

Halloween at Preschool

Madisen's class had their Halloween party yesterday. She had a lot of fun painting pumpkins, making a witch mask, eating cupcakes, and more. I loved hearing the girls sing their "Witch Song" while holding their masks! I was able to record her singing it later at home. She's been singing it all month, it's too cute!

Labor Day Weekend

We had such a relaxing weekend and still managed to fit in a few fun events. On Saturday we went swimming as a family and later Bill watched the BYU football game with some friends while the ladies did a little home decor shopping. And we just HAD to try out the SUPER CLOSE In-N-Out, WAHOO!

I realized that we hadn't made any homemade ice cream this year & summer is almost over, so on Sunday we mixed up a batch (I got it right the second time!) and had some friends over for a birthday party. I take no credit for the cake, it was all Sara!
Monday morning we did the Children's Discovery hike early in the morning. It was nice & cool- only 80! Once we entered Red Rock park I rolled down the windows since it was BEAUTIFUL outside. Madisen quickly asked me to roll them up because she was cold- yep 75 degrees is cold to her. While we were hiking Bill was working on ANOTHER home improvement project- this snazzy flower bed. He's not so sure about the stark contrast to the desert landscape, but I think that once the flowers fill in it will be an oasis!And how can Labor Day go by without having a BBQ and doing some swimming? My girls were in heaven swimming in this hot tub. I couldn't even get Madisen out to eat a hot dog. My favorite new phrase of Caitlyn's is, "Wike Madsen". In this case, she needed floaties, wike Madsen- but we could only find 1 spare. She kept saying, "I jump, mom". So she'd jump to me & we'd swim around in a circle, then she'd say, "Do gain, mommy!"

Father's Day

This is my late tribute the the father of my girls... my wonderful husband! We had a perfect day! The girls and I let Bill sleep in while they helped create his present & we made his favorite breakfast- German Pancakes & orange julius. The only picture I got with daddy & his girls is them in their P.J.'s.

Here you can see Caitlyn is eager to help daddy unwrap his presents. She knows that something tasty is inside. As soon as Bill opened & shared his Sour Patch Kids with the girls, they immediately spit them in their hands. Caitlyn handed it to me and said, "No wike." Madisen gave me a look of disgust since she couldn't figure out why that candy wouldn't taste good, as she handed the half eaten piece to me and said, "Here mom, you try." Bill grinned b/c he had scored a sweet treat that the girls weren't going to be sharing with him.

I had to include a picture of the note that Madisen dictated for her daddy. As she 'reread' it to him she had changed a few words at the end, and what she was trying to say is that she loves her daddy when he doesn't go to work. So sweet!!

The talks in our ward were fantastic tributes to fathers and grandfathers! After church the girls took L-O-N-G naps! I was able to read, take a rest myself, make dessert, dinner, & clean up the kitchen. In fact the girls slept so long that they slept right through dinner. Bill & I enjoyed a kid-free dinner at 6 pm!

I don't know about you, but Bill seems to like everything I cook for dinner- I guess he has to. So thinking of something that would be his favorite was tricky. I quickly decided on using the BBQ grill, but since we'd had steak previously that week I was trying to think of something different. I came across this recipe a few weeks ago & decided that it was definitely a meal for a special occasion- so this was it!I must say that I was quite pleased with how these Chicken Kabobs turned out... they even look appetizing in the raw form!

We did, however, find out that they DON'T taste good the 2nd day. So next time we'll make them for company!

Memorial Memories!

Our cousins from California came to visit us for Memorial Day weekend! We filled our days with visits to the strip, a little shopping, an evening out for the adults and playing at home. Matthew & Connor especially enjoyed riding in the bike trailer with Uncle Bill- too bad we didn't get any pictures of that. Our weekend was perfect, despite the overcast weather. Thanks for coming to visit us... we hope to see you again real soon!

Here's the photo journey of our vacation:
On Friday we headed to the strip where we started at the Bellagio atrium. They have an impressive train exhibit surrounded by beautiful flowers and 'shooting water fountains'.

Next it was on to the M&M factory to satisfy the sweet tooth in us! Matthew choose 4 shades of blue & Madisen chose 2 shades of purple and boy were they were disappointed to find that they had to share with their siblings!

Caitlyn & Connor enjoying their after-lunch snacks.

This crazy picture is taken at the Lion Habitat in the MGM- it's actually 2 pictures. I tried the 'multi-exposure' feature in Picasa. I thought it was kind of cool to see the size comparison of the lion with us- we're actually standing directly below it.

Madisen liked riding with Matthew- who was happy to oblige & shared his seat in the stroller with her.

Back to the Bellagio so we could see the spectacular water show- we actually got to see 2 quick ones in a row. It stared with a patriotic song and then it was one of my favorite songs, the Italian song that Andre Bocelli & Sara Brightman sing together... it made waiting in the chilly weather worth it. Connor enjoyed this show with his eyes closed- it had been a big day.

Our plans to BBQ were spoiled with the threat of rain so we savored a bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup instead!
Too many kids in this tub!

On Saturday we were hoping to enjoy a show at the Luxor IMAX since we couldn't hike at Red Rock, but they don't allow children under 11 in, so we went with plan C & visited the Shark Reef.

Sunday evening we did some finger painting- Madisen is hiding NOTHING here. She was T-I-R-E-D!

On Monday morning we left early to shop at the outlets in Primm so Don & Karlea could beat the traffic into CA. After we got home we took a nap, did some home improvement projects, and had a picnic in our backyard.

It started out warm, but got progressively chillier! A big THANK YOU to Sara who let us borrow her camera for the weekend. Karlea's was broken & mine is, well, MIA!

President's Day Weekend

We were so lucky to have Grandma & Grandpa Dodds come for a visit this weekend! They were making a stop in Southern Utah, so they decided to keep driving and spend a few days with us. We talked them out of doing a project- they usually come to help us with some MAJOR home improvement project- and just relaxing while they were on vacation!

On Saturday the girls got to go to the park with grandpa for a little while before we all (minus Bill who was running for 4 hours!) went to the Springs Preserve. We walked around the gardens, enjoyed the mirrors, Caitlyn LOVED the windmills, explored the shiny rocks, and played at the playground. It wasn't hard to spend 2 hours here, especially because the weather was PERFECT. While the girls were napping my mom & I ventured to Target- without kids- it was so fun to shop with her! That evening we had a BBQ and relaxed.


After church, where my mom was a fill-in primary worker for part of the time, we took a Sunday drive out to Red Rock. We've never taken my parents out there and we were all curious to see where Bill will be running his first marathon in 2 weeks!

This morning my parents & I took the girls to the Lied Discovery Museum. The girls had a great time! Some of the experiments were too advanced for them, but we found a plethora of things that were exciting for them. For example: the race cars, the grocery store, Madisen got to make 3 crafts (a patriotic necklace, a log cabin with popsicle sticks, & spin art), the swirling pennies, the ball machine, and a virtual soccer game. Our timing was perfect b/c we got to meet Bill for lunch before my parents headed north.

It was a perfect weekend! Thanks for coming for a visit!! We sure love & miss you!!

A Late Valentine's Recap

We had a wonderful Valentinte's Day! The morning started with our 2nd annual homemade cinnamon roll breakfast (I forgot to take pictures) with pink juice. YUM! And Bill surprised me with 3 dozen yellow roses, a balloon, and some chocolates- all with a sweet note attached. Then after we opened a little Valentine gift from grandma & grandpa and mom & dad, we got ourselves ready & went to a friend's house to decorate sugar cookies & make Valentine's cards for our daddies. As you can see, both of my girls thoroughly enjoyed the frosting, but Madisen did manage to get 4 cookies frosted.

We met Bill at In-N-Out for lunch= a Valentine treat for daddy! Then the girls & I ran a few errands before heading home to teach piano, have dinner & make the final preparations for the adult Valentine Day party that we co-hosted.

{I love this picture of Madisen & Makayla
in their festive pink heart shirts!}

Onto the Valentine Party- it was SO much fun! My friend Janet throws a party for couples every year. It was complete with heart name tags, door prizes (see below), carving your initials on the tree (also see below), a few 'games', a slow dance, and the best part of all... a poem written by the husbands, and of course some good eats. I was lucky enough to have Bill play a song that he'd written for me on the guitar. It was FABULOUS! The poems ranged from funny to fantastic to sappy & we learned about some hidden talents (Dennis & Elliot).

{Karissa, Ashlee, Alison}
{All of the ladies, except somehow Kate managed to skip out on a picture.}

{Jane, Janet, Denett, me, Jen, Alison, & Sara}