FHE

For FHE tonight, we decided to go see the "Reflections of Christ" exhibit at the Idaho Falls Temple Visitor Center. We loved it! The pictures prompted some great questions from the girls. We think they learned a lot about Christ's life and felt a greater understanding of His love for them. We then of course topped it off with a trip to the frozen yogurt factory. Yum!

KELLIE

Kellie is 5 now!! Whoa! Where has the time gone! Kellie is all tom boy with a side of princess. She loves school..bugs..primary..crafts..drawing.."creating stories"..reading books..riding bikes..playing outside..camping..sledding..animals..playing games..puzzles..helping dad and grandpa with the basement..giving hugs and kisses..Katelyn..learning..helping others..and saying "I love you".

KATELYN

Katelyn is three now, and is the ultimate girlie girl! She loves school..playing house..doctor..dress up..beauty shop..dancing..gymnastics..anything requiring "dancing shorts"..sleeping beauty..Kellie..babies..baby dollies..laughing..apples..Handy Manny..riding bikes..playing with friends..cousins..especially RYAN..and her "handsome prince" Daddy.

Katelyn's BIG Day!!

I can't believe my baby Katelyn started preschool!! She didn't need to start until August, but she wants to be like her big sister every way she can, so we were able to start her a little early. She has the same teacher, Mrs. Ashley, and even the same classroom that Kellie has. She is love love loving school! Kellie was so excited for her too. She helped Kate find her cubby and where she needs to hang up her coat, and where her seat is. I just stood back and watched. She has learned so many things already. My favorite thing that the girls have been doing lately is playing school. Kellie is always the teacher, and Katelyn is the "friend"..aka student. I love listening to them play and sing songs and do the same schedule that they have in school. They've even made the same charts and can of sticks with the kids's names on them. They love playing together!

5 Months of Winter....

A little cross-country skiing + sledding + snowman building + snow ball fights

= 4 months too long!

It's true the winter's are brutal here, but we get out and enjoy it anyway!

Time for Spring!!

Disneyland!

Since it's been a good 5 months since I've updated the blog, I've gotten my second wind to this whole thing (thanks to Hailey :) ). So to catch up since....geez.....Halloween?? Here goes...first off we are going to be having baby girl #3 this summer!!....we had an awesome Thanksgiving with the Johnston's, Christmas galore with family, and DISNEYLAND with grandma and grandpa wirick! We had SOOO much fun. A few highlights included...seeing ALL of the princesses, including Sleeping Beauty (yes, Katelyn about fell over), getting the girls face painted (and I don't just mean by Mickey Mouse icecream, although we did have our fair share of those puppies!), riding ride after ride after ride with little to no wait, lots of laughs, and a whole lotta memories!

Introducing Maleficent and Sleeping Beauty!

Halloween is officially the beginning of the holiday season!! It was a surprise to wake up to a sciff of snow this morning! I'm surprisingly pumped for snow now! I'm sure that's just because my favorite holidays are around the corner.....Today was Kellie's preschool halloween party, so it was their first time to get dressed in their costumes!

Kellie had her mind set on being Maleficent since August. I'd say it suits her pretty well :) I bet their aren't too many four year olds out there wanting to be Maleficent. She even has this big long speech memorized that Maleficent says. (For those of you who are out of the Disney loop...Maleficent is the villain in Sleeping Beauty).

Katelyn as none other than Sleeping Beauty...her favorite princess. (She reminds us of that multiple times a day).

Kellie's Maleficent Face

Carving Extravaganza!

FINALLY!

I've been Blog Tagged!

I've been tagged by none other than THE HAILEY BEEBS JOHNSTON JASPER! Okay, here it goes...oooh I'm kind of excited....okay...

1. What is your favorite Christmas tradition? My favorite tradition growing up is on Christmas Eve we all unwrapped two presents: our Christmas Eve jamies, and another one that we picked.... then all us kids would sleep in Jami's room all together, sprawled out everywhere....then at 7:00am (that was the earliest we could bribe the parents to wake up :) I don't know why it couldn't be earlier....what were they up doing? :) ) we would all wait on the stairs while the parents "checked everthing out" first....then we would open presents taking turns one at a time so we could all enjoy eachothers gifts together. Then we would stay in our jamies all day do whatever we wanted...together...is there anything better? Brady and I have rolled alot of these traditions over into my own family which I LOVE!!

2. What is your favorite way to relieve anger/frustration? LONG HOT BATHS! I grab a good book and have a good soak...AHHH...I want one now.......I'll be back in a minute..or two...

3. What was the last good movie that you watched? Why? Letters to Juliet!! In my opinion, one of if not the greatest love stories of all time. I absolutely love the reply from Juliet to Claire's letter. It is so beautiful! It talks about how the words WHAT and IF are harmless words until they're put together....WHAT IF...two words that can haunt you. It's never too late to be happy. If you want an awesome feel good movie...go for Letters to Juliet!

4. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up? Oh crap! What time is it? Oh, okay...I still have 10 more minutes...ZZZZZ

5. Name 5 things that make you happy! My girls, Brady, teaching my girls to do the right thing and then catching them doing just that, laughing, horses....only five?

6. Describe your perfect day. First of all...cleaning, laundry, and cooking all done the day before so I don't have to think about that....then, waking up to the sound of little foosteps on my bedroom floor followed by two little blondies climbing into bed with us, then we go out to breakfast (why not? It's my "perfect" day), then go to Yellowstone or Tetons or (so many choices) somewhere outside where it's peaceful and the only sound you hear is the river and birds and my girls laughing with Brady. Then we find a huge, open, gorgeous meadow where horses are all saddled and waiting for us. We ride together for hours in the 70 degree weather, and finish with a picnic in the sunshine. It really doesn't matter what we do, as long as we're together :) I could also go spend the day in Disneyland together path...

7. What is the worst job you have ever had? I would have to say when I worked at The Training Table restaurant when I was in high school and part of my job was to clean out the fry grease nastiness! You had to take off the panel under the fry baskets and literally scoop the chunky mystery chunks from underneath...on your hands and knees...on the greasy, nasty floor......fries anyone?

8. If you could relive the best day of your life, what day would it be? I want details! :) There are so many! When I was younger, it would've been a day at the cabin or getting the biggest slice of cheesecake. Then there was my first date, my second kiss (my first one? yeah not so good), graduating high school, getting engaged, getting married, graduating college, finding out we were pregnant, having Kellie, Brady graduating, moving home, buying our first house, pregnant with Katelyn, having Katelyn, getting the news Brady is cancer free, many trips and vacations, and thousands of calories burned laughing my guts out with my family.....which one? How do you choose?

Thanks Hays! That was a lot of fun!

Farewell Yellowstone...'till we meet again....

This might have been our last adventure to Yellowstone for a while, but we went out with a bang! Grandpa and Grandma Wirick came along this time! It was a paaartaay! We saw a bunch of animals including: bison, antelope, coyotes, a black bear or THREE, and a HUGE grizzly! Not to mention some bugeling elk....'tis the season....

We watched this BIG guy dig around for food, cross the river, and climb on some fallen trees! He was a true entertainer!

Fishing Bridge with Grandma and Grandpa.

This is for blackmail later in her teenage years.

We found some tall, beautiful grass where the girls played for hours as "momma and baby elk". Kellie was the momma and she would do her special elk call, and baby elk aka Katelyn, would come running back to her mom. I could seriously watch them play forever!

The fall colors were in full bloom. I LOVE living somewhere that has four seasons! They might not be four equal seasons, but we get a little taste of all!

Most of the babies had already lost their red coats. Looking more and more grown up....and I thought MY kids grow up fast! Can't imagine booting them out at the ripe old age of two!

Black bear we found on Blacktail Plateau Drive.

Kellie Bellie....or Kellie Magoo as Katelyn has been calling her lately. I don't know where she comes up the funny things she says!

Katelyn....

We took Grandma and Grandpa on one of our favorite hikes: Wraith Falls. Great hike for kiddos!

It wouldn't be Mammoth without elk EVERYWHERE!

Katelyn loves to snuggle, and who better than Grandma.

Big guy.

We watched a couple coyotes looking for food in this tall grass.

We will miss you Yellowstone! Thanks for another year of memories!