Fun at the Playground...

And you thought playgrounds were for kids. Let's just say I think we had just as much fun as the little ones. What a blast!

I think it's a McVea thing to do things like this as adults. It seems we never really grow up:-) We had fun jumping from the swings and really trying to synchronize the jump. It took us some time, but we eventually got it. According to the judges (CL and VV) we did pretty well for beginners.

Got to love Seth's face and Melissa's pose! Way to look so good Melissa...no comment on Lael:-)


Lacey and Mason. We almost lost him there, but he was just loving being with his mom.

She looks so happy...she was. Brian promised to take her to the playground and he kept his promise. Everyone ended up coming! Madison went down the slides, spider web, zip line, swings, etc. Abby loved the slide the best and went down over 30 times! No Fear!

Graduation and Condo

Abby on the swing at the playground! She loved the swing this time. She usually only stays in a swing for a minute or two, but between the slides and swing, she was set the entire 1 hour plus.

Doesn't she look so good and happy! What an accomplishment.

Brian took the picture and Madison was too busy running around to come in the picture.

Lael's Graduation

VV, CL, Melissa, Brian, Madison, Abby, and I all attended Lael's graduation from Weber. It was fun to see her walk...she was quite comical in line and talked the entire time making faces, posing, and being silly. Way to go LILLEY! We are so proud of you. Then we all headed up to the Condo in Park City (Thanks to the Evans) and had a blast. We had a wonderful dinner, watched the Jazz game, and pretended to get a good night's sleep:-) Then we woke up, some went running, went to the playground, and then shopping. It was a nice time together as a family. We missed not having Josh and Emily there:-( Here are some pictures in reverse order:-)

This is a sign of the future!


The girls with their Auntie...

Brian's Mad Piano Skills vs. Madison's spin dancing

Thanks to Brad we have proof that Brian can play the piano and quite well. This is Madison's favorite song to dance to. She usually gets pretty into it. There was a crowded dance floor so everyone just did the best they could:-) The other's are Madison's 'friends' as she calls them. They are her cousins.

"Happy Birthday"

Tamara does it all! she had a present for each grandchild who was having a birthday in the month, a candle for each to blow out, and then had everyone sing to them. It was so cute! Madison and Abby loved their gifts! It was a fun day on Sunday.

Love

I am feeling so much love for my girls and husband. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family and to have been raised in such a beautiful family as well. I count my blessings and am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who reminds me of what I have at times and blesses me with an overwhelming feeling of love. It's all consuming at times and I feel as though I am going to burst with joy. I remember the first time I felt that so strongly. I was on my mission and I was walking through the church with Kim Brown (an investigator at the time) and she wanted to see the baptismal font. This was her first time at church and she wanted to see the font. We showed it to her and I asked her if she wanted to be baptized. She said she did and that she wanted to be baptized on Joseph Smith's birthday. I felt like the only thing stopping me from going in all different directions at once was my skin. I could have run a marathon right then. It was like joy was engulfing my entire body making it useless to try and function. I guess that was a piece of heaven right there. The only other time I have felt that has been for my children and husband. It's been a blessing to be married and have given birth to two beautiful girls that are a part of me and me a part of them. I love them more than life itself and would do anything for them. I never understood the bond between a mother and a child until I had my own. What a strong and powerful bond. I am sure it's just a portion of what Heavenly Father feels for his children and that comforts me a great deal knowing he loves me more than I love my own children. His love is perfect, pure, and unconditional. I am the beneficiary of that. Well, I have babbled enough. I just had to try to capture my feelings with words this night. It all began with a photo shoot that captured feelings between Madison and Abby that touched my heart and ended here:-) Good night.

Ensign Peak

Brian took both the girls on a hike for a daddy daughter date on Wednesday while I went to the temple. The girls loved it and Madison hiked to the tower and back. Abby hitched a ride on daddy's back in the carrier. She got to walk around on top and was picking up rocks saying, "this is heaby (heavy)." I'm glad Brad took this pic. What a great dad the girls have. Madison is coming up with new ideas for daddy daughter dates weekly. She proposed this one Wed. morning and I told her that maybe later she could go hiking with dad for a daddy daughter date, to which she replied, "But it's been a long time since we went on a daddy daughter date." That is when I reminded her that she just had one on Saturday:-) Brian goes on more dates with the girls than me:-) Should I be worried? Abby now knows what a daddy daughter date is and calls it by such. She even gets really excited and jumps up and down when she knows they are going on a daddy daughter date.

Sisters

They got a bit giddy at the end of the shoot as you can see. I just let them go and snapped a few pics.




I loved to watch these two interact. They are such good friends. They copy each other all the time and really enjoy being around each other, for the most part. What a blessing it is to be their mother and learn from them. I thank my Heavenly Father for blessing me with these two beautiful spirits. I truly learn a deeper level and meaning of love from these two. I hope you can feel their connection through the pictures. I have found my passion for photography once again.

Bloopers:-)

These are how a real shoot goes and the pictures I get a lot of! They just make me laugh. What fun girls! Brian happened to pop his head in after trying to stick a finger in my shot, or a hand, or bunny ears, or a face. I then snapped it of them both. It's the Brad Bender move for sure:-)

Abby Two Year Pictures

This is her 'I am innocent and the most adorable little girl' look...

This is the face I have come to know and love. She gives this too me all the time. She usually does it to make me laugh. It works every time.

This is one she learned from Madison. They stick their tongues out all the time.

Abby is a hoot! This is what I got from her when I bribed her with Jelly Beans. She gave me every face she has and only cooperated when I would bribe her. That is how I got her hair done and her out of her hideous outfit she was wearing before. As you can see, I lost the battle in choosing what she put on to wear for the shoot...I have to give somewhere right? I was just glad she sat for me for so long.

Madison's Four Year

This is her look when she is being funny or making a statement. I see this all the time!!!!



This was so fun to do with Madison. She let me do her hair and get her dressed. She was so excited to do a shoot and we had a blast. She pulled all her funny faces, posed, and made me laugh. My favorite was when she crossed her legs and said, "I am going to to cross my legs like you do mommy." And then she struck the pose:-)

Cannon's Two Year Pictures

Cannon's pictures are now on my photography blog. Click here to see more:-)

Hanover, NH

Oh, how it was so hard to leave where we have lived and loved for over four years. I had to go out and try and capture the town of Hanover. It's structures, fun places to eat, historic feel, and classy upscale vibe you felt walking it's streets, eating in it's cafe's, and driving through it. It's been a good experience, one I hope never to forget and I am just hoping and praying that Michigan will hold a place in my heart as New Hampshire has. People are what really make a place special. You can have all the structures, cool museums, upscale eating, etc. but without the people, a place is just that, a structure...

Sugaring...

All the kids sitting on a log. L-R Abby, Madison, Clare Tyler, Liam and Carter Davis, Caleb and Eldon Crossett

Madison was determined to drive this tractor. She kept asking the entire time we were there. She was satisfied just sitting on it and pretending to drive it.

We got to go to the Crossett's Maple Sugaring Activity. They gather the sap from the trees in huge barrels from tubing and put it in this amazing contraption that boils the sugar water into maple syrup. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of Maple syrup. The best part was dipping fresh home made donuts into the freshly made maple syrup. It tasted like HEAVEN! I loved it! Abby ended up drinking the syrup from her cup like juice. We went with the Davis, Tyler, Crossett, and Maxfield families. It was a true New England experience I am glad we were able to enjoy the Sat. before we left. Thanks for a fun time and great memories.

Abby's 2nd Birthday Party

Mesia was pretty good at hitting the pinata!

Madison was pretty aggressive and would wind up and try to hit it as hard as she could. When she would miss she would do a complete 360 degree turn! I think Softball might be a good sport for her:-)

Madison and Mesia laughing at Abby when she was chasing the pinata in circles trying to get a hit at it. It would eventually slow down and hit her in the face if she didn't get a hit at it in time.

Anna was the best. Abby gave her the stick and Anna hit the pinata very delicately once, gently set down the stick in the grass, and walked away. She had done her duty!

Abby was a hoot to watch hitting the pinata. We forgot to let her hit it for Madison's Birthday party, so we had to let her have one on her birthday. She would chase it in a circle, hit it and it would come back and hit her in the face, she would push it away, hit it, swing and miss, etc. It was so fun. We all couldn't stop laughing. She was so serious about it too. We got it on video:-)

We started out with the Easter Egg hunt and the girls loved it! Madison filled her basket so full every time she reached to get another on, an egg would fall out. Mesia was so dainty about it and would point to one and ask before she would pick it up. Anna loved finding new ones, but was usually too slow getting there. No running or hurrying on her part. Abby on the other hand kept asking, "Where another one?". Once all the eggs were found, Lael would grab one from Abby's basket and toss it on the lawn and say, "there's another one!" Abby would get all excited and pick it up and ask for 'another one.' It was so fun to watch!

April Fools...NOT!

Oh, how I wish this was an April Fool's joke, but it wasn't...We got all this snow and we have continued to get snow. We come back to Utah hoping to have a Spring and instead New Hampshire is getting the Spring and we are still stuck in winter and it doesn't look good for awhile still:-( Where is my Spring?