Brother & Sister Dance

Kolby was begging Eliza to dance with him to Radio Disney. She resisted until I said I was going to video it. (they have taken on their dad's mantra - "anything for the camera") Warning-this is a PG video cuz her shirt goes up a little. My favorite is that Kolby tries to dip her a few times. So funny.

More About Carson

Two things about Carson:

1. He is such a lovebug. It is so cute too that he loves his Dad so much. It is actually really nice that Geoff took 6 weeks off when Carson was born and now is home with us everyday and Carson definitely appreciates it. They have such a cute bond and he loves to give his Dad hugs, as you can see in the photo.
2. I found the greatest new entertainment for him...The Dustbuster. By the way, the Dustbuster has been my lifesaver since Kolby was big enough to start eating table food and we started getting messes all over the floor. It is an awesome way to do a quick clean up and last night I trained my almost one year old little boy to use it to clean up for me. He did such a great job and went all over the kitchen floor with it until the battery charge was gone. Then he threw a huge tantrum because it wasn't making the noise anymore and I put it back in its charger. Did I mention that he was so well-entertained by it that i was able to get all the dishes cleaned up/counters wiped and folded 2 loads of laundry? I love it when that happens!
   

A New Girl

Today Eliza got a big haircut. She has been wanting me to cut her hair for a while and I thought it was a great idea because she has thin, stringy hair that gets very matted and looks pretty crazy most of the time. I finally got around to actually doing it today...my first haircut in a really really long time. I planned on cutting it to her shoulders, but as you can see in the photo it ended up more like chin-length. I just couldn't seem to get it straight and finally just had to call it good before I cut anymore off. I think she looks pretty cute, but Geoff was not too happy when he saw her. The one who matters the most, though, is Eliza and she LOVES it. She was so happy and was dancing around the rest of the day singing songs and flipping her hair all around. She wanted to show all the neighborhood kids and was really excited to call Grandma and Grandpa and Ashee to tell them about her cute new haircut. I never thought it would have this affect, but it did and it is supercute to watch her be so excited about her new 'do. I'm a little nervous after giving her a bath tonight and seeing it dry by itself...you can definitely tell it is not a professional job. All I can hope is that it starts to grow fast and all my unevenness gets lost in the new growth.

Cute Little Monkey

I am definitely not in blog posting mode, but I thought I would share this really cute picture of Carson. He is becoming such a monkey...always wanted to "walk" around everywhere and climb onto things. I turned away from the dishwasher to put some dishes away and when I turned back around I saw my little monkey had climbed onto the dishwasher and was giving me such a cute little smile that said, "Aren't you so proud of me, mom? Look what I can do now!" He was so excited about it. I of course am not so excited because now it means my dishwasher using time is limited to times when he isn't around. (just what i didn't need...another excuse not to do dishes!) But of course I encouraged his "cute" behavior by taking a picture of him. :-) I LOVE this little boy. He is so sweet and I can't believe he will be one in just a couple of weeks!

Kauai, Hawaii 2008

We were lucky enough to go to Hawaii for a week without kids and with 14 other friends! It was so much fun and soooo beautiful and pretty relaxing. It was amazing to be able to get a full night's sleep every single night. And we rested easy knowing that the kids were in great hands with Grandma and Grandpa. And they had a blast. Now my parents think I am the wimpiest mom ever if I complain about having a hard day with the kids because they just tell me that I have the easiest and best kids ever. I guess that is what a life without rules turned them into. :-)

But, back to Hawaii, we did so many fun things...trips to beautiful waterfalls, cliff jumping off the waterfalls, rope swinging & surfing (Geoff), sea kayaking for 4 hours (resulting in serious prayers that the winds would change and we would be pushed into shore), Waimea Canyon, zodiak boat tour around the Na Pali Coast, zip lining, bowling, karaoke, walks on the beach and delicious pineapple.

Geoff's favorite story of the trip is this: He was surfing on Saturday morning (the day we were leaving) and the lifeguard got on his microphone and told everyone to get out of the water because he had seen a "shark thrashing around out there." Of course he got out and went to talk to the lifeguard, who showed Geoff the 2 places he had seen the shark. The 2nd spot was right where Geoff had been surfing. Kind of freaky. Glad that life insurance policy was all paid up!

To sum it up, we had a fabulous time and it was so awesome to spend time with such fun, great friends.

So that's the travel log...and here are a few pics to go along.

Field Trip to the Fire Station

Last month, Karyl organized a trip to the fire station and we were lucky enough to be invited. The kids were so excited to go and had so much fun checking out the fire truck and even going up and checking out the firemen's digs...the kitchen, living room, recliners, etc. The coolest part of the whole thing was that they actually got a call while we were there so they had to hurry and get in their big truck and pull away. It was so exciting! Here are some cute photos of the day...

Idaho 2008

Every year, my family has a family reunion at the lake in Sandpoint, Idaho. It is beautiful and we have so much fun just hanging out at the lake house, swimming in the water, wakeboarding and tubing and eating lots of junk food! This year was extra special because my sister, Heidi got married. And we got to meet the latest addition to the family, baby Ellie. At first, I was only going to go, but since Geoff was free, the whole family went and had so much fun. It was awesome to see Heidi get married and to see how happy she and Ove were on their special day. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins and being on the boat all day. Kolby was the official "flag boy" and he is really really great at that job. He even got tips from Grandpa at the end of the day and was so excited to pay tithing on his freshly earned money. So cute.

It was nice for us to escape reality and catch up with family, especially since we rushed to put our house up for sale in the 3 days since Geoff losing his job and our going to Idaho so we were ready for a vacation. The good news is that our house had 2 offers on it the first week it was on the market. Yeah!

The trip would have been perfect if I didn't agree to go tubing with Mart...I totally messed up my neck and that put me out of commission. Luckily, my chiropractor sister, Wendy, was there so she was able to help me out a lot, but for the most part, Geoff was on his own with the kids and he even flew home with all 3 kids by himself (and he had a long layover in Phoenix). Pretty impressive, don't you think? He did look very beat when I met up with them at the airport, but everyone made it!

Thanks to Heidi and Ove for making it possible for us to share their special day and to Grandma and Grandpa for providing such fun memories!

Bye Bye Centex!

So on Monday morning, July 28, 2008, I got a phone call from Geoff saying that as of July 31 he would no longer be employed by Centex Homes. I was surprised, but not really, if that makes any sense. He had made it through 5 rounds of lay offs, which was great, but now it was time to leave the homebuilding industry. It was such a relief, yet terrifying all at the same time. 4 years at Centex was long enough...we are grateful that he was employed, but are now very happy to be moving on. We'll keep you posted on what and where we will be moving on to...

Camping in July

In order to beat the heat, Geoff and a few friends decided to take their boys camping up in the mountains. They had such a fun time and you can see how beautiful it is up in the moutains. They even went fishing and Kolby learned how to cast like a pro. So cute. That will definitely make Grandpa Downen proud. Kolby came home and couldn't stop talking about the little bear that he and Aidan spotted. He is definitely at a "story-telling" age. I am so glad he gets to have so many fun moments with his dad. And Geoff did offer to take Eliza, too, but she said she would rather stay home and sleep in the big cozy bed with me. We are in so much trouble with that girl!

Fun Princess Party

This should have been posted so long ago!!! Our little friend, Sammie, turned 3 and had a cute little princess party. I was glad that Kolby said he didn't want to dress up. :-) But the girls sure made some pretty princesses so I had to include a photo. And Kolby looks very chivalrous, ready to defend all the pretty princesses...