Trip to the Zoo!

I have lived in Utah for over 6 years now and have never been to the Hogle Zoo until yesterday! I took the girls and we met up with Jessica and Raz (Bubba's cousin's wives) and their kids and we had a great time. The last couple of summers we have taken Savannah to the zoo and she hasn't been very interested, but this time she LOVED it! She was so excited about seeing all the animals and has not stopped talking about all of them since we got home yesterday! It was so fun to see her get so excited and to hear her tell us all about it...so cute. Paris liked it too...she knows all of her animal noises and did a great job of making the right noises when she saw the animals and I can't remember the last time that she sat in the stroller for more than a few minutes without screaming to get out, so she was obviously entertained yesterday as well. I borrowed Bubba's work camera so I could take and share some pics...enjoy!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had such a great weekend and it was such a nice break! Yesterday was a double holiday for me since it was Memorial Day and my 27th birthday. As part of my birthday present, Bubba came home early on Friday so that I could go and get my hair cut/highlighted without having to worry about the kids. Friday evening we took the kids to Jumpin Jacks and they absolutely loved it, and I loved having Bubba there for once so I didn't have to try to chase both kids all by myself like I usually do! Saturday afternoon, my sister came to babysit the kids so that Bubba and I could go with his family to see Indiana Jones and have dinner. It's been a long time since we've gone to a movie and it was so nice to feel like adults for a few hours! Yesterday morning we went to my parent's house for a birthday breakfast and then came home and I got to relax while the kids took naps and Bubba got some projects done around the house that I've been bugging him about for a while and then he surprised me by having my sister come over again to babysit so that we could go to dinner and walk around the mall for a while.

To a lot of you, that might sound like a pretty normal weekend, but with Bubba's job, this kind of thing does not happen very often in our house! He's been out of town a lot and really busy the last few weeks and it was so nice to have him home for that many days in a row! Of course he was still on the phone quite a bit, and I think he was sending text messages from the theater while we were watching our movie, but it was still a great weekend! This is the first time in 4 years that we've actually gotten to do something for my birthday and one of the first weekends in 4 summers that Bubba has had free...it was wonderful!

Sorry I don't have any pictures, but I haven't yet replaced our camera that was stolen last week...hopefully soon!

Bye Bye iPhone!

This afternoon we went to Salem Pond to go canoeing with some friends. Savannah and Paris were very hesitant to get in the boat, but once we got going they loved it. The pond isn't very big and we didn't have much room in the canoe so we left the diaper bag under the bridge, and planned to get it when we got back. At the last minute, Bubba put his phone in the bag so that it wouldn't get wet in case the canoe tipped. Anyways, we were out in the canoes for about 30 minutes and then got back to the diaper bag to find that Bubba's treasured iPhone and our new digital camera had been taken out. Of course, all of the diapers, wipes and goldfish crackers were still there! We have now learned that you can't get insurance on iPhones, so basically Bubba just has to get a new one and deal with it. What a bummer...but we have definitely learned that you can't leave your stuff out, even in a nice little town like Salem, UT. Even though the whole thing stinks, I'll admit it's been kinda nice to have Bubba around for a few hours without having a phone glued to his ear the whole time! Of course he'll be getting a new one first thing Monday morning and he will once again be on the phone constantly, but I'm going to enjoy the next 36 hours while it lasts!

Poptart Party!

Bubba has been gone again this week and Paris is finally feeling better so I've been trying to come up with fun things to do this week. We have spent a lot of time at the park since the weather has been so nice and the girls love it! Paris would spend hours in the swing if she had the chance...it's kind of a pain because I have to push her forever, but it's kinda nice because I can at least stay in one spot and not have to chase her all over the place like I usually do. Last summer, Savannah was terrified of slides and playgrounds, but this year she loves them and has gotten so brave!

Today was such a good day...we didn't do anything extremely special, just grocery shopping and then a long walk to a park, but my kids were so well behaved all day! When we were at home they played and entertained each other and I got so much stuff done! That may not sound so unusual to most people, but honestly it was like being on a different planet for me! For the last few months, Paris has constantly wanted to be held and I haven't hardly been able to put her down without her freaking out. I'm not sure what changed but the last couple of days I've been able to leave a room with her watching me without her screaming her head off! Maybe the separation anxiety is finally starting to wear off?!!!!! Not that I don't like to hold Paris, but she is 26 pounds and after several hours a day of holding her while trying to do laundry, make dinner, etc. I get tired, so I'm hoping this is the start of a new phase!

Anyways, since the girls were being so good all day, I told them that we would have a little picnic party and watch a princess movie while we ate dinner tonight. They really don't care much for movies, but we had rented Enchanted a couple of months ago and they loved the songs in it so I rented it again. I asked Savannah what she wanted for dinner and she told me she wanted poptarts (at least they are organic, right?) and so we took our poptarts downstairs, spread out a blanket, and watched "How Does She Know You Love Her?" about 10 times in a row! Bubba called in the middle of it, and Savannah told him we were having a "girls party." We had a fun time! Eventually they got tired of it and went into the playroom where they played happily until bedtime...I'm a little wary of their angelic behavior today, and I'm sure it won't last long, but I'll take it whenever I can get it!

My not so little girl... and Paris trauma!

My little Savannah will be three at the end of June and lately she has just seemed like such a big girl to me. Most people think she is very quiet, since she tends to go silent when other people are around, but when it is just us at home, she dances around singing and talking non-stop! Just in the last couple of days I have noticed that she is using her pronouns correctly! Instead of saying, "Savannah wants Mommy to come here" she now says "I want you to come here." It amazes me because I never really have corrected her or emphasized this, yet she has figured it all out on her own and changed the way she says things....and so far she has done it perfectly since yesterday! I shouldn't be too surprised because that's how she has always been...for example, I sing the alphabet a lot to her but never really thought it was sticking until one day she just sang the entire thing all by herself. It's like she won't let on that she knows something until she has the whole thing down perfectly....kinda sounds like someone else I know (me)! Anyways, Savannah is such a sweet little girl and although she has typical 2 year old moments, we have been very spoiled because most of the time she is such a calm, self-entertaining, sweet little girl! Here is a pic from last week of the first time I ever curled her hair with a curling iron...she's always had some natural curl so I've never bothered, but it looked so cute-she has the most beautiful hair ever!




Tonight we had a scary experience...the girls were just playing in the playroom while I was getting some stuff done and all of the sudden I heard Paris screaming so I ran down the hall to find that she was in the spare bedroom next to the playroom and she had stuck her head through the metal bars of the daybed that we have in there. I have absolutely no idea how she got her head through the bars because her head was at least an inch bigger than the space she was stuck in and there was absolutely no way that I could pull her out. She was freaking out and twisting all over the place and I was scared to death she was going to hurt her neck or something. I had no idea what to do so I called Bubba (who is in Memphis) and told him what happened and he told me to hold on for a second (I couldn't believe he was putting me on hold!) and after a couple minutes he came back on and said that Jake (Bubba's boss who lives about a mile away) was on his way. I had to leave Paris for 20 seconds so I could run up and unlock the door and by the time I got back, both her and Savannah were hysterical and Paris was thrashing around so much I could hardly keep her still. Jake got there within a couple of minutes and was able to pull the bars and bend them far enough apart that we were able to get her head out. Paris is fine and a few M&Ms later the whole trauma was forgotten...at least by her. Savannah kept saying, "That was scary!" Luckily Bubba is more level-headed than I am, and luckily Jake is a lot stronger than I am or it could have been a lot more traumatic. Savannah keeps telling me that "Jake saved Paris"...so thanks Jake for coming to the rescue!

I've been tagged!

Answer these fifteen questions about yourself and tag three other people at the end of your post by leaving them a comment on their blog.

3 Joys
1. Bubba (especially the rare moments when he is home and not talking on the phone!)
2. Savannah
3. Paris

3 Fears
1. That I am going to 'mess up' my kids somehow
2. That people think I'm weird or stuck-up (I'm just really shy!)
3. Losing a close family member

3 Goals
1. To be happy and not get so stressed out about everything!
2. To teach my kids everything that they need to know
3. To start regularly exercising again....I love to do it and used to be an exercise freak but it's harder to find time now.

3 Obsessions/Collections
1. Blogging...ok, maybe not so much blogging as checking other people's blogs!
2. Beyond The Bump (I 'met' a group of girls online on Babycenter who were all due in July 05 and we have all been 'chatting' online every day since we got pregnant in October of 04! We now have our own website/forum that is called beyondthebump)
3. Having a clean house...it's definitely not always clean but it makes me really stressed when it isn't.

3 Random Facts About Me
1. I lived in Ecuador for 4 months back in 2001.
2. I had to go to tongue therapy as a child...yep, you read that right!
3. I loved working on cadavers...when I was in college I took 2 semesters of anatomy that did nothing as far as getting me credits I actually needed, but I had to take them so that I could take Gross Anatomy (a class where all you do is dissect cadavers)

I tag. . . Jessica, Laura, and Adele!-unless you guys have already been tagged

Sick Baby and Go-Karts!

Yesterday morning Paris woke up and seemed to have a little bit of a fever but she was running around and acting normal until after her nap. She just sat on my lap and laid her head on my shoulder for the entire afternoon...which is so NOT Paris...she has never sat still for me to hold her for more than like 3 seconds at a time, even when she was a newborn! And today she woke up with a fever of 102, so I took her into the doctor and he confirmed that she has another ear infection...this is the 4th one since January. However, with the other 3 ear infections, she never had a fever...she was just really grumpy so I'm not sure why this time has been so different. As much as I hate to see her so miserable, I have really enjoyed being able to cuddle with my baby for the last 2 days....she has never really been a cuddler at all and it has been so fun to have her be so cuddly and still. Although I hope that she will be better soon and back to her energetic self, I will miss the cuddles and am grateful for my opportunity to hold my baby the last couple of days. This is not the best pic since I had to take it myself, but I wanted something to look at and remember this special time with Paris.

The other day we went to Leamington, UT to spend some time with friends and let the kids run around. Savannah got to go on her first go-kart ride while we were there and she loved it! It was so funny to watch her because as soon as we put the goggles on her, she acted like she couldn't move her head or make any facial expressions so I couldn't tell if she was having fun or not, but as soon as her ride was over and the goggles were off, she broke into a huge smile and has been talking about it ever since! Thanks to Jake for taking her on a ride, and thanks to Miriam for the invite....it is so nice to have activities to fill the evenings when Bubba is out of town!