June-October Fun

 Girls night while daddy was working on call.  We put on fake nails.  Abby wanted the off in about 10 minutes.  I am so glad I didn't use that permanent glue!!!

 Alice driving the car on our trip to Kirtland, OH.

 Here we are at the saw mill.

Kirtland Temple 

 This is the room where Joseph Smith received revelation for an hour.  The spirit was so strong during this part of the tour.  

 For a few days, we went up to South Haven, rented a beach house, and spent time together as a family playing at the beach, going out to dinner, walking along the pier, and just being together.  It was so fun and relaxing!

 It was the perfect time to go (JULY), Alice just sat (she wasn't mobile yet) on the blanket while Brian and I threw frisbee, played in the sand, etc.  Alice loved the seagulls!  She would squeal and squack at them.  We fed them kix and cheerios to get them to come over.  

Silly Madison! 

 I went to work out at the park and Madison and Abigail kept taking Alice all over to have an adventure with her.  She is so blessed and lucky to have such great big sisters!!!

 We got rollerblade and rollerskates for the girls after they prayed to get some.  We found them at the second-hand store for only a few bucks each.  They practiced every day for a week or so.  They both got pretty good!

 Two teeth at 6 months!!!  You go girl.

 Madison begged and prayed to begin violin lessons, so after much prayer on her part, we found a great teacher and Donna lent us a violin.  Madison loves playing it and is doing so well.

 We went to Cedar Point (Amusement park) for a family trip and the girls LOVED it!  

 Abby was so excited to get the purple one!

 This is a very mild ride for Madison.  She went on multiple roller coasters with Brian.  Even one that went upside down:-)  Abby is excited to go on those when she is a bit taller.

 Madison and Abigail on their way to school for the first day.

 Abby in her Kindergarten Class.  She was so excited to get the same teacher Madison had for Kindergarten.

 Alice loves to scoot through her exersaucer.  She is so mobile now:-)  

 First time pulling up on things.

 I love this SMILE!!!

 Apple picking.  It's one of my favorite things to do in Michigan.  We made apple crisp with the apples and ate the rest.  Mmmmm good.

 Alice even got into it:-)

 Alice really enjoyed going on the rides with Abby at Chuck E Cheese.

 Brian took me to a really nice restaurant for my birthday.  It was so fun to get all dressed up.  Thanks to Anna for watching the girls.

 Too bad we don't have sliding glass doors for Alice to look out of.  She loves windows.

 Alice at her 9 month check-up.  

 Silly girls.  I told them to go and get their pj's on and this is how they came downstairs.  They were laughing and giggling so hard. 

Back to School

 I knew this day would come...it did for Madison, but I wasn't ready.  Abby was, but I was not:-)  It helps that she has the same teacher as Madison did for Kindergarten.  Oh, how they grow up so fast.  She was convinced that she needed to learn how to read before Kindergarten, so she worked on reading all summer long.

Best Friends! 

 I told them to just laugh...this is what we got:-)

Hooray for school!  Abby and Madison were counting down the days until school started.  I wonder how long that will last? 

My oldest in Second grade.  She is so big and responsible.  I will have to get a picture of her playing the violin as she has just started lessons.  She knows "Hot Crcross Buns", "Mary Had a little lamb", and "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."

Two Miracles

Two miracles or blessings happened to us this week.  First off, not to gross you out, but during church last Sunday right after we sat down for Sacrament, Abby climbed onto my lap and as I was looking at the top of her head, I saw a louse crawl across the top.  I had spent about 5 minutes on her hair just a few hours before braiding it into a crown all the way around her head...why couldn't I have seen them then.  Well, or course I then see all the eggs and realize why our head have been itching for the past two weeks!  I just about lost it and as I leaned over to Brian to explain what I just saw, Abby started to cry and was asking, "what mom, what's in my hair..."  I picked Abby up and walked out of church and Brian followed.  My head was crawling and itching all at the same time.  I was about to loose it, ok, I did loose it.  Now that is all over, the 20 plus loads of laundry, fine combing four times, hair blow drying, pesticide, vacuuming, bagging, bed stripping, etc. I can see the blessing of me discovering it when I did.  Brian was off that whole week and we already had a three day trip planned.  We notified a few of the girls' friends who had been over playing dress-up in the past few weeks and it ended up backfiring on us a bit.  Word spread in the neighborhood and my girls were called lice-head and told that they couldn't play with certain kids.  They were treated like they had the plague.  I am ok with not having your child play with mine, but to have them yelling names at them...I didn't have to inform them of the problem...it was a bit hard!  People didn't want to come over or associate with us, we missed two Sundays, etc.  It was such a blessing that Brian was home and we were able to just hang out together as a family.  This would have been a lot harder if Brian was working and everyone was avoiding us.  Plus we left the house for a few days, long enough for any lice to die!  I know it's gross, but I love what one friend said, "it's not if you are going to get lice, but when."  Most kids get it from school.  I knew we might get it some day, but I still freaked out!!!  Brian kept saying "this isn't that bad.  I have seen way worse things at the hospital".  I know it's not deadly, but it's still embarrassing, time consuming, and really hard to get rid of!!!!  Anyway, I am just so glad it was during Brian's week off, so it wasn't so hard and he could help.  

Next story happened today.  I was at Costco and I got out to the car after shopping and looked at my bag where I always clip my keys and nothing.  My keys were missing.  I looked at the front seat to see if I could see my keys and they weren't there.  Then I looked at the ignition and there they were!!! Brian was at work and was working all night and is the only one with a spare key to my car, no one we know has a car big enough to fit their kids and mine, I could pay to have it opened...I was about to freak out when the car next to ours pulls up and this older gentleman rolls down his window and asks if we have a key box with a spare under our car.  I tell him no and he then proceeds to get out and say he might be able to open it...he has some tools.  He then pull out a massive bunch of slim jims and proceeded to open my car door.  I waited only 5 minutes from the time I noticed my keys locked in the car to when this man opened my door.  I gave him a hug and thanked him profusely.  I mentioned to the girls that this was truly a miracle and that Heavenly Father is looking out for us.  I said, "We need to have a prayer and thank Heavenly Father."  Abby then said, "I better say it so that you can drive."  She then said a beautiful prayer and we drove home grateful to the man who claimed he had broken into many cars back in the day:-)  I don't know if I was suppose to take him seriously or not, but with his skills and the amount of slim jims he carried in his trunk, I wouldn't put it past him:-)  Just 20 minutes before this happened I saw a woman parked with her hood up and some jumper cables out front.  I pulled into the Bank where she was parked and asked if she needed a jump.  She did and I was able to help her.  I guess what goes around comes around.  

Fun in the sun!!!

Brian came back after his run and surprised the girls by joining them in the pool.  They loved it!!!

Aunt Lilley and Missy came for a visit

 Photoshoot at bubble gum Alley in Ann Arbor, MI

 I love this girl and she loves to smile...

 Madison was being so silly...she wanted to put gum on the wall, but I wouldn't let her.  How do you tell her no when everyone else does and they call it bubble gum Alley.

 Alice three month pictures.

 I just want to eat her cheeks!!!

 Best Friends...

Pictures with their Aunt Lilley 

 J...U...M...P!!!!

Silly Madison

Last night Madison was telling Brian how she thought that her nipples were  dimples when she was younger.  So, when people would comment on Abby's dimples,  and say that they were so cute, Madison would think, "well I have dimples too."

When I asked her about it this morning, I asked her why she never said anything about her having dimples too?  She replied "I wasn't for sure."

Funny Abby

Today while Brian was driving in the car, Abby was talking about how her fingernail grows really long.   She said, "and it gets really HUGE!"  So then Brian said, "speaking of huge, look at daddy's muscles.   Aren't they huge?"  Abby then put her head down and muttered under her breath "I don't think anyone really wanted to see that."