She's Two!

Happy birthday to my sweet little Gracelyn! The two years that you have been with our family have flown by! Our family wouldn't be the same without your sweet spirit! We love you!

This year all Gracelyn wanted for her birthday was "COOKIES!" So we had a cookie themed party. We had a ton of different kinds of cookies for her to try! 

Gracelyn is slightly obsessed with slides. She makes everything into a slide. This was her face when she saw Ryan bring her new slide out from the hallway. She cracks me up! :) She also was spoiled by family! Ryan's parent's gave her the cutest crib with attached cupboard, sink, and highchair for her doll. Ryan's mom sewed a special blanket for the new doll that we gave her as well. I found a cute diaper bag to put with it, so now Gracelyn is stocked up with everything she needs for her baby! Uncle Spencer and Kellie gave her bath paints (which she has tried out and LOVED), and everyone from my side of the family pitched in with money that we are going to put towards getting her a new bed and bedding for her room. Pictures to come! :)

Happy birthday Baby Loves! We are so glad you were born!

Growing Up!

My girls are growing up! Addie started preschool this September. She already has learned so much!  She is also in dance, and does really well! I can't believe I am old enough for this stuff! She is growing into such a beautiful little girl!

This picture was taken a week before Gracelyn's second birthday. It blows my mind that it has been two years since this sweet little love came into our family. Don't know what we would do without her!

Highlights of Summer

Summertime came and went WAY to quickly. Here are a few of the highlights of our Summer:

Pool parties on the Patio

Putting in a new flower bed in the backyard

Addison's first dance rehearsal! She was AMAZING and really brave! There was an auditorium full of people!

Backyard pool parties with the neighbor kids

Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit and we had a fun weekend with them! These are a couple pictures that my Dad took of the girls up on Scout Mountain:

We went camping at Palisades with Ryan's family and had a great time!

Swimming at Rigby Lake

Our major summer project was digging up the weed patch in the back and putting in a new shed and two raised veggie gardens. They actually grew and I now have zucchini and tomatoes coming out of my ears! :)

Addie got her ears pierced with minimal tears.

Somehow I was talked into buying a puppy. He's a pain, but he's really cute too. Lucky for him!

We named him Tippy! The girls LOVE him. I wish I could say the same for myself. I am still only at "sometimes like".

We had a few flash floods in Chubbuck and it resulted in a wet basement and shop vacs full of water!

I was finally brave enough to make a trip with both girls alone. The last time I made a big trip alone Addie was a baby. We went up to Montana and stayed at Apgar campground with my family while Ryan was on a business trip.

Addie trying to listen to her little cousin...it didn't work. :) He will be born in just a few weeks now!

We visited the Alberta visitor center at West Glacier. It is a place we always used to go on bike rides to when I was a kid, and it was fun to make the ride with my girls!

This is my bed. Somehow there was never much room for me? haha

Addie caught her first fish with Grandpa! She still talks about it!

Gracelyn never just falls asleep, she usually will only sleep in her crib. So this shows how tired out she was from all of the fun!

DISNEYLAND!!!!

Back in May we surprised the girls with a trip to DISNEYLAND!!! Anyone who knows Addison knows that she is OBSESSED with princesses! She wears a different princess dress every day, watches the movies over and over again, and I think secretly thinks that she is a Disney Princess. :)

We had talked about going to Disneyland for a while, but weren't sure if the girls were old enough. Gracelyn was only 18 months, and we worried that it would be the wrong time. Finally we decided to just do it and then go back later on too! :) I booked the trip in February, and kept it a secret for so long! I was proud of myself because it was HARD not to tell Addie something that I knew she would be SO excited about. We told Addie a week before we left. I spent forever making autograph books, and putting together a backpack for the girls full of all things Disney. (coloring books, shirts, snacks, etc, and stuff to keep them busy on the flight to California) The reaction we got when we gave the back pack to them was not what I expected at all! Addie calmly opened the bag, saw all of the stuff, and when I asked where she thought we were going said, "Disneyland" like it was no big deal! Then she got super excited when she saw the princess fruit snacks. Haha she didn't quite get it. I looked up Disneyland online and showed her all of the fun things we were going to do THEN she was SO excited. :)

Addie couldn't remember ever being on a plane so that was really exciting for her too. We stayed in the Carousel right across the street from Disneyland. Addie FREAKED OUT when she saw the castle and the Disneyland sign. We walked into Disneyland and didn't really know where we were going. The first place we happened to wander into was FULL of Princesses. Addison RAN to Cinderella and gave her the longest hug ever. I totally had a tear in my eyes. It was "magical".

We had so much fun for the 6 days we were there. We saw EVERY princess except for Pocahontas. The girls especially loved going to the princess shows that are put on. We went to Rapunzle, the Belle Show, and Aladdin.

We bought the girls princess nightgowns, and the only time they haven't worn them to bed in months has been when they are in the laundry!

The girls could both go on almost every kid ride. Even Gracelyn could go on almost everything! It was so much fun and she loved going on them! She didn't like getting close for hugs and autographs like Addison did though. She was happy watching from a distance. :)

One day for dinner, we took the girls to "Ariel's Grotto". It is a character dining restaurant where 4 princesses walk around and come to your table to hang out during dinner. The food was amazing, and it was one of our favorite parts of the vacation (and most expensive)!

Other favorites were:

• Cars Land!!! Amazing! The roller coaster was my personal favorite!
• World of Color is a light/water show that puts Vegas to shame!
• The greasy delicious (expensive) food
• Disney Jr Live- Sophia, Jake, and Doc Mcstuffins...Addie and Gracelyn both loved it!
• Splash Mountain was Addie's favorite ride. I was impressed that she would even go on it...Twice!
• The parade!

We all want to go back ASAP! It was one of the best family vacations we have ever been on! 

San Diego!

Ryan did really well at his job last year and he won the Pinnacle trip that was in San Diego this April! We met my parents half way and left the girls with them. It was so fun to get away and to have time to ourselves for a few days!

This was our hotel room...so pretty!

It was my first time in California, and I LOVED the palm trees, the gardens, the ocean, and the SMELL of San Diego. Salty and fresh! The resort we stayed at was GORGEOUS! We went on walks every day through the gardens:

Ry and I did some shopping, walked down by the ocean, went to the San Diego Zoo (AMAZING!), had fancy dinners every night, and had a tour of the air force base that "Top Gun" was filmed at. It was fun to go to a few of the Elevon meetings, and to watch Ryan accept his award! Can't wait for next year's trip in Puerto Rico! The deadline for sales is in December, but Ryan already looks like he's won that one too! I'm so lucky to have such a hard workin' man! :) He takes good care of us!

Beach babes!

Addie woke up and was having an "emotional" day. She was crying about everything. So we made it a beach day! Good thing Rigby lake is only an hour away. She is now the happiest girl around! :)

Summer 2013 Family Pictures

My friend Heidi took some new family pictures for us last month. She did a great job! Here are a few of my faves:

It is crazy how big my girls have gotten since our last photo session! They grow and change so fast! Glad we have these pictures to document their cuteness! :)