Adeline is 2!

It's flying by and it's amazing that my Adeline is two-years-old!  She's really grown up a lot in the past three months making all kinds of strides and hitting milestones like crazy.  She stayed so baby-like for so long and then just exploded with talking, mischief, keeping up with her sister, and much more.  Even when she's naughty, she's adorable and lovable.  It kind of makes me mad sometimes.  LOL.  Despite that, she's still the most kissable and huggable little person on the planet!

Here's what she's up to now.

• She pretty much potty trained herself.  In Mid-November she took her diaper off, said "potty" and we put her on the toilet.  She peed and the rest is history.  
•  Her speech has exploded.  She went from barely putting two words together at 18 months, to now speaking in at least 3-word sentences.  
• Along with speaking . . . she's singing.  She's trying to sing words to songs.  It's darling!  She tries to sing, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and it comes out as "Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle" all to the right tune.  She also does this with "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," "The Wheels On the Bus," and "I Love to See the Temple."  
• She also tries to sing along to our favorite pop songs that we play often and dance to.  She has picked up on several background phrases and repeats them when the song is playing.  (Trolls "Sound of Silence" song she says the background "Hello".  She says the "Come on Girl" halfway through "Shut Up and Dance With Me."  And, there are others.)
• She knows her colors!  Woot!  For a while there everything was PINK.  And then we got to the point where we would ask her what color something was and she would still say pink, but then we could say, "No.  What color is it really?" and she would give the correct color most of the time.  Now, she is almost always correct with the right color.  Yay!
• She is starting to count.  She can't go in order yet, but she recognizes numbers and loves to try to count.
• She can jump with both feet leaving the floor.  She just barely started doing this and she's pretty proud of this new trick.  She'll jump several times in a row saying, "Hop" with each one.
• She loves to say her prayers.  She's always asking to pray.  It's darling.  We start her prayer for her and then she lists who/what she's thankful for.  Grandpa and Ty Ty are always first on the list and the the list varies after that.  
• She wants to touch everything.  When she sees things she'll constantly say, "I want to touch it."  This goes for EVERYTHING . . . . new clothes, food, fabric, the sun, the moon, her own poop (I know.... gross), and much more.  
• If it's not stationary she wants to ride it.  If she sees something moving she'll say, "I want to ride it."  Passing cars, trucks, trains, flying airplanes, etc.
• She started saying, "Okay Mommy" to just about anything I tell her.  I can be asking her to do something or just simply telling her something.  Some times she even says it out of frustration (like when I remind her 20 times to stop making messes . . . "OKAY MOMMY!").
• One of our most favorite sayings of her right now is, "I like it!"  She'll say it so cute and enthusiastically.  This is usually after she eats something she likes, but it can also apply to trying new things like going on new slides or swings or whatever.
• She has a few cute "baby talk" things that are worth mentioning.  She puts a "d" on the end of words that typically end with an "n."  Downd is her most commonly used word in this category.  She also loves to push buttons, but calls them buntons.  Fruit Snacks are nack-nacks.  Garbage is garbib. 
• She LOVES the movie, "Frozen."  Anna is her favorite character.  When given TV time, this is the movie of choice.  Needless to say, we have the movie memorized from start to finish.  
• She's a smart little cookie and learned that taking the step-stool from the bathroom to just-about-everywhere allows her to access more things.  Thus, she is constantly taking that stool with her everywhere to explore more places, grab more things, etc.
• This girl knows what she wants and she does what she has to do to get it.  You want to try the "cry-it-out" technique on this girl . . . good luck!  She doesn't stop crying, screaming, or begging until she gets her outcome.  She's really always been this way.  Very calm and quiet as a mouse, until she needs/wants something.  
• Food wise - she still loves to drink from her bottle and loves her milk.  Her favorite food right now is probably soup (and she eats it on her own surprisingly well).  She still eats several foods and spits them out when the flavor is gone (this is most commonly done with fruits and vegetables).  She also loves to smell her food before she eats it.
• She loves the temple.  She loves to read her birth story book to look for the temple.  She loves to drive by the temple (and as referenced above, always wants to "touch it").  
• She pats our arms or backs in an endearing manner.  It's so sweet.
• She loves to draw and color.
• She just started fake crying and whining.  Stinker!
• She tries to read books on her own.  She'll open a book and start talking in gibberish as if she's actually reading.
• She works bedtime as well as any of the best 2-year-olds out there.  I'm certain if there was a competition, she'd win it.  And, remember . . . . she doesn't give up on anything, so sometimes the bedtime process has taken 90 minutes.  Stinker, stinker stinker!
• She loves girlie things.  She loves jewelry, shoes, makeup, fingernail polish, etc.
• She is a little obsessed with car crashes and throw up.  We passed a car crash on the freeway and there were lots of emergency vehicle lights and she thought that was awesome.  So, now she's constantly wanting to find car crashes.  Sometimes she'll even tell us that she got her owies from car crashes (because we told her that car crashes are not awesome because people get lots of owies.). Throw up - she recently caught the stomach flu and so now she talks about throw up all of the time.  She'll tell you that when you throw up you should do it in the toilet or the garbib.  :)
• She is in love with her new kitty, Boots.  Luckily, Boots is so patient with her and has endured her pulling his tail, holding him upside down, and much more.  She constantly wants to hold him and pet him.  She loves how his fur and whiskers tickle her.
• She seriously is so naughty sometimes.  Nobody believes me because she looks so sweet and innocent (which she uses to her advantage, BTW).  She will sometimes purposely do something naughty.  For instance, she'll grab a cup full of water, get your attention, give you that look that says, "I'm going to dump this out before you can stop me and it's going to be so funny", accompanies that with a grin, and quickly dumps that water on the floor.  Then, she runs like mad (laughing the whole way, mind you) before you can catch her because all along she knew that was the wrong thing to do.  Lately, the worst of all her naughty acts was when she grabbed an open bottle of nail polish (I was painting Evie's toes) and before I could even grab it back she flung it all around my bathroom and herself.  That was pretty epic.  I took a picture of it so that I can proof to all of you non-believers that she can definitely be naughty. And somehow, she remains huggable and kissable after the fact.  (But, don't you worry . . . she still gets her punishments too.)
• Speaking of punishments - she's a hard one to punish.  She thinks timeouts are funny.  She'll start to do something naughty and we'll say, "Do you want to go to timeout?" thinking that this will deter her behavior.  She simply replies, "yes."  She doesn't care.  She seems to hate timeouts if I put her in her bed and close the door (as she doesn't like to be out of ear/eye shot from me.  But, even then, it's pretty short-lived.  She's silly . . . . 
• She loves to be silly.  She's always looking for a good laugh, doing something to get us to laugh, and finding things that are so silly.  She loves to giggle and laugh and I'll constantly find her and Evie laughing and playing together.    
• When she tells you she loves you she says, "I loves you."  Oh, it's a heart melter.  "I loves you mom."  Oh, how I loves her!!
• She LOVES her people.  Her people are her thing.  She connects everything with her people.  She remembers who gave her what gifts.  She remembers what places she has been with what people.  She knows what things belong to what people.  Her memories center around her people.  She LOVES her people!

That's a long list and I'm sure it's not everything, but I'm sure it gives you a good idea of who she is and what she's like right now.  She's silly, naughty, funny, fun, mischievous, girlie, a talker, and loves her people!

Happy "Frozen" Halloween

Happy Halloween from our "Frozen" family!  We hope you have a fun, safe, and memorable Halloween.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

The girls LOVE pumpkin patches.  Evie has always loved them and Adeline is WAY into "punkies" this year.  So, off to the pumpkin patches we went.

We met an aunt, a grandma, and some cousins at a local pumpkin patch one afternoon and had loads of fun!  We played in the corn pit, went down the slides, pulled wagons full of pumpkins, went on a hay ride, enjoyed the petting zoo, and picked out pumpkins to decorate our porch.

Then, we also took our annual family trip to Cornbelly's.

It was COLD!  I packed our fall jackets, but we seriously needed winter coats, gloves, and hats.  We still tried to have fun and enjoy our night for as long as we could still feel our hands and toes.

The girls played on the multiple playgrounds, played in the corn pit, we watched a dog show, and jumped on the air trampolines.  The highlight of the night was definitely the Pig Races!  Evie got chosen out of the crowd to participate.  She was assigned a pig to cheer for, if her pig won the race, then she won a prize.  Well, her pig won!!!!  She was given a gift certificate to Brick Oven and was also given a pig nose.  Oink, Oink.  She was also encouraged to turn to the crown and offer a piggy victory dance.  She was darling and did it.  She received LOTS of cheers from the crowd.  She was so dang cute!

Afterwards, we treated ourselves to dinner in a warm restaurant and our dessert was hot chocolate.  Well, actually a Pumpkin Spice Steamer from Kneader's.  Oh my!  Those things are to die for.  I'm only telling you because I love you.  I'm slightly upset (not really!) I found out about them because I'll have far too many of them over the winter months.  They taste like the holidays all in one cup.  So delicious!

Well, since our night was cut way shorter than we had hoped, I took the girls back two days later.  The weather was the EXACT opposite.  It was sunny, warm, and no jackets were needed.  We even got a little sunburned on our cheeks.  We had LOADS of fun.  We stayed there for over five hours.  We did everything and anything that was suited for my littles (corn pits, cow train, bounce houses, dance parties, pumpkin princess stories, the giant slide, face painting and much more).  I even ended up taking Evie back after dark to see the fireworks.  While the two of us were there we snuck in a haunted hay ride, ran through the corn maze, and played some more in the corn pit.  We also watched the "chicken show" (for the 5th time) where fake chickens were set up on a stage and told jokes and sang (Evie's favorite attraction).

This is certainly a highlight every fall.  We LOVE pumpkin patch fun!

A Vacation in Paradise

Beau and I loaded up the kids and flew them to Hawaii.  And, oh my, we had a blast!  My parents had their beach house time and invited us, as well as the rest of my siblings and their families, to vacation with them.  We couldn't pass it up this year.  Not everyone in my family came, but we sure had fun with those that did!

Here's a quick run down of all our fun in the Aloha State.

The first thing we always do when we go to Hawaii is throw on our swimsuits and head straight through the beach house's back gate.  We land ourselves right on the beach.

Then, we also pray that the blue belly jelly fish aren't out.  Unfortunately, Evie got stung REAL good within her first 10 minutes of fun.  Oh, it was sad!  After fast research, we eventually got the sting under control and, it wasn't very many hours later that she wanted to jump back in the water.  Brave, brave girl!  Here you can see a picture of a blue belly jelly fish, Evie soaking in her hot bath, the sting marks that the jelly left on her leg, and then we all went out for frozen yogurt once she was feeling better.

We also had dinner from the local food trucks.  Beau chose the famous shrimp truck, while the girls and I had Thai curry.

The next day we hit the famous Swap Meet and then followed that up with a visit to the Honolulu Zoo.

The girls LOVED the zoo.  It was actually the first time we've taken either of the girls to a zoo before.  The monkeys and tigers were our favorites.  There was also a little park inside the zoo that the girls loved.

The next day was filled with some fun sight-seeing.  It was Sunday, so we started the day out by going to a local ward for church.  We then took the girls over to the Laie Temple.  It's our Sunday tradition while we're there.

We then hit an awesome spot where Banyan trees grow.  Evie was SUPER stoked to climb in the trees and swing like Tarzan.  This location is actually where the TV series, "Lost" was filmed.  They actually had a set built around the biggest Banyan tree so we weren't able to climb in that one.

We then went to the Dole Plantation where we ate lunch, rode the train with grandma and grandpa and cousins, and then had a famous Dole Whip.  YUM!

We stopped to see a turtle at the beach on our way home.

And, once we got home, Addie and daddy took naps.  Evie and I played on the beach.  I took Evie on her very first Boogie Boarding ride and she was in heaven.  In fact, after her second wave she excitedly said, "Mom, all I want for my 5th birthday is a boogie board!"  It was SO fun to experience that with her.

The next day was pretty low key.  We played on the beach some more.

Then, that night we went to our favorite restaurant…….Haliewa Joe's.  It's SO pretty there.  It's so tropical and the gardens are so lush.  You can see that in the background of our pics.  And, the food is SUPER awesome!

The next day we took a little family hike to Waimea Falls.  That place is gorgeous!

We followed this up with shave ice from Matsumoto's.

The next day we went to the Polynesian Cultural center with my sister and her family.

The kids loved it.  I think their favorite part was watching a Polynesian man get the coconut meat out of a coconut and then letting the kids feed it to the ducks and fish.  He even caught a fish with his bare hands.  Now, that was impressive!

Our last day was spent relishing our time on the beach and in the sun.  It was SO perfect and SO fun!   Lots of splashing in the waves, lounging in beach chairs, building in the sand, and playing with extended family.

We also got a lot of boogie boarding in.

We LOVED spending time with my mom and dad.  Grandma and Grandpa were good my our two littles.  Evie and Adeline soaked up all the attention from them and loved EVERY minute!  We're so grateful for the invite!

Until next time . . . we'll dream of paradise, the beach, the amazing amount of family time we were able to soak in, and the delicious food (of course).

Adeline is 18 Months Old

Oh my!  This little sweet pea is 18 months old.  She is SO DANG CUTE and we're loving this stage she's in.  We seriously cannot go ANYWHERE without people commenting on how adorable she is.  Between her beautiful looks and her sunshine-of-a-personality, she's pretty irresistible.  Just sayin'!

Here's what the darling Adeline Joy is up to now.

• She's finally starting to say words.  She can say hop, hot (she is VERY good at this one), help (hep), dog (gog), hotdog (gog-gog), beep, brrrmm, mom, dad, ba-ba (for bottle), bye, ba-bye, up, shhhhh (for when she's sneaking up on someone), and she also says shhhh for when tries to mimic the sleeping sound that has a snort followed by the shhhh sound.  She's doing her best to mimic us when we say, "Addie, say _____."  It's coming, it's coming.
• Along with words she loves to do animal sounds.  She does dog (both the sound and panting like a dog), cat, elephant, tiger/bear/lion, cow, horse, owl.  It's hard to make out what animal sound she's making, but when we ask her to make the sound . . . she makes a sound.  Dog is, by far, our favorite because we get the panting and it's sooooo cute/fun.
• Even though she is not speaking, she understands almost everything we say or ask her to do.  The other day I was talking to Beau and in conversation I mentioned sunscreen.  Adeline was just playing around us, but as soon as she heard me talk about sunscreen she when right to the swim bag, pulled out some sunscreen, and brought it to me.  
• She is TOTALLY climbing.  She'll climb on anything that can be climbed.  Her favorite climb right now is to climb on the bar stools and then up on the counter.  Oh, she's a stinker!
• She loves to empty out bags and containers.  Often times when I'm doing my makeup I will give her a bag full of stuff to explore and empty onto the bathroom floor.  It keeps her busy for several minutes.
• She can officially go to the nursery at church.  She DID NOT like being left in there without her mom or dad.  So, mom stayed with her for one hour and then dad stayed with her for the second hour.  She had tons of fun playing with the toys and the kids . . . so long as mom or dad was in eyesight.
• She's loving babies right now.  She loves to hold and play with baby dolls.  She also loves to admire and stare at real babies.  She gets very excited when a baby is brought into a room.
• She's a dancer.  She's always been a dancer, but the better she is able to get around, the more moves she drums up.  This girl starts bouncing whenever music starts . . . on a TV commercial, a ringtone on a phone, radio, etc.
• She just cut three of her four eye teeth.  This girl pretty much has all her teeth but the one eye tooth.  
• She is a pretty good eater.  However, she still eats what she wants to eat and spits out what she doesn't.  Her favorite foods are anything protein and dessert.  She'll eat meat like it's going out of style.  She doesn't care much for carbs like bread and stuff (although she does love potatoes).  And then, she loves anything for dessert.  That being said, she is not a fan of yogurt-like or whipping cream-like textures.  She'll eat yogurt if I freeze it (so I freeze go-gurts and she'll eat those like a champ).
• I started pulling her away from her binkie.  With her speech starting to come, I really don't want the binkie to hinder her ability to speak correctly.  Plus, we don't want to mess up her pretty teeth.  So, she gets her binkie when she's sleeping and that's it. Baby steps, right?
• She loves to read books now.  We can get through an entire book and even go back for another or two.  Hooray!
• She's getting fast on her feet.  This girl can run and it's super cute!
• She's starting her little independent phase and wanting to do things by herself.  She wants to hold her drinks by herself, feed herself with her spoon/fork, etc.  She usually does relatively well with all of this, but we have to watch her close otherwise we end up with big, fat messes.
• She had an ear infection a month ago.
• She's moved to just taking one nap each day on most days.  Every so many days, she still needs two, but she can usually get away with one long afternoon nap.
• She loves swimming.  I suppose this is not a huge surprise since she loves her baths.  If I ask her if she wants to go "swim-swim" she gets very excited and runs to grab her swimsuit.  
• She loves to hug my legs.  She'll hug Beau's legs too when he's around.  I love it.  I could be doing the dishes and she'll just run up and hug my legs.
• She loves to copy her big sister.  If Evie is doing something, Addie must be doing it too.  This is true for most things.  If Evie is drinking juice, Addie want her juice in a similar cup.  If Evie is twirling around, Addie will twirl around.  If Evie sits in my lap, Addie wants to sit in my lap.  You get the idea.
• She tries to hop.  She'll make a jumping motion and say, "hop" while she does it.  Her feet don't quite leave the floor, but she's getting closer.  
• She loves to accessorize.  She's always trying to grab bows and headbands and then wants to place them in her hair.  When she can't quite figure that out, she hands them to me to put in her hair.  

Evie at 4 Years Old

Our Evie Doll is growing up and we want to remember what she's like at this very stage.  She has more personality than most people can imagine.  She's full of love, full of energy, has a stubborn streak, wants to play all of the time, and keeps us on our toes.  We embrace every aspect of her.

I found a little Birthday Interview questionnaire and decided it would be fun to get Evie's answers.

Birthday Interview - Evie at 4 Years Old
Mom's clarifications are in parentheses.

1. Who is your favorite person in the whole world?  Addie Bug.  (Love the relationship these two girls have!)
2. What is your favorite color?  Pink, purple, and yellow and sparkles.
3. What's your favorite television show?  Arthur.  Zootopia. (She really does love any show on PBS kids.  Her favorite changes from day-to-day or week-to-week.  Today Arthur wins.  And, since Zootopia just came out on DVD…..that wins in the movie department.)
4. What is your favorite outfit?  Parrot Pajamas.  (She loves to get her PJ's on at night.  She also loves to "match" her clothes now.  She'll put a blue shirt on with blue shorts or a striped shirt with striped pants.  Those combos are a "bit much" but she's working on the matching concept so I let her wear such outfits when she chooses them . . . most days.)
5. What sport do you like best?  Basketball.  (She loves to snuggle with Beau and watch sports.  They watched a lot of the NBA finals together.)
6. What song do you love?  "Shut Up & Dance With Me."  (She can about sing the whole song word-for-word.  She mostly loves up-beat pop hits.  She also loves children's songs too.)
7. What is your favorite cereal?  The square one.  (Life.  She's not a huge cereal fan though.)
8. Who is your best friend?  Mom  (This melts my heart.  One day we were driving in the car and she asked, "Mom, are you my best friend?"  Of course I am, sweet thing!  I always will be.  So many friends will come and go, but I will consistently and forever be your biggest fan and bestest friend.)
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?  A Mom.  (I've asked her this question at random times and this is always the answer.  Love!)
10. What is your favorite book?  Petunia  (Thanks Grandma Polly!  We read it ALL of the time.  That being said, she has always loved reading and her favorite book also changes from day-to-day or week-to-week.  We read a lot.)
11. What are you really good at?  Being careful, being nice, not pooing or peeing in my pants.  (This made me laugh right out loud.  I suppose this gives you insight into what we continue to remind her on a daily basis.  She's not careful, she's crazy!  Thus, we're always reminding her to be careful.  And, she still has random potty accidents, so again, we continually remind her to get to the toilet before it ends up in her pants.  Oh, she's a funny one.  And, she truly is a nice and sweet girl a large majority of the time.  We just try to gently correct her behavior if it isn't quite up to par.  She's also VERY athletic, runs fast, has amazing upper body strength, talks incredibly well for her age, is starting to read, she is great with animals, she plays well with others.)
12. Where do you wish you could go on vacation?  To a hotel.   (Seriously!  What kid really cares about the destination so long as there is a hotel involved?  Ha!  She loves hotels.  Jumping on the bed, watching Disney Jr, and swimming in the pool are definitely highlights when staying over.)
13. What would you buy if you had $1000? Chicks, bunnies, and fishes to eat.  (Huh….no surprise that chicks made the list.  I'm guessing bunnies is coming from her new love of "Zootopia."  And, she just went fishing and learned the difference of getting fish for pets versus getting fish to eat.  Ha, ha!)
14. What vegetable do you love the most?  Broccoli and carrots.  (She is a great vegetable eater.  She prefers her veggies raw and will eat most of them.  She also loves cucumbers and bell peppers.)
15. If you could have a wish, what would it be?  To fly and I wish to be a cheetah.  (She does love to chase birds and she constantly tells me that she wishes she could fly like them.  She wishes she could be a Cheetah so she can run fast . . . .like Cheetah power.)
16. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?  The ice cream where you put candies on it.  (She's talking about going to a frozen yogurt place where we put the ice-cream in the cup and then she can put whatever toppings, in her case it's candy/cookies, on top.)
17. Who is your biggest hero?  Dad  (Shouldn't every little girl's dad be her hero???)
18. What do you like to do best with your friends?  Play at the park.  (For sure!  One of her most favorite things to do.)
19. What do you hope you'll get to do before your next birthday?  Skate.  (She keeps telling me she wants to try skating.  Oh dear!)
20. What is your best memory?  I don't know.  (She doesn't really know how to come up with a best memory.)

Other things that Evie is up to at this age.

• Loves playing with friends.  She is always asking if a friend can come over or if she can go over to one of her friend's houses.
• She always wants to be doing something.  Every day she asks, "Mom, where are we going today?"  And, it's not too uncommon for her to ask me at night when I lay her down to bed, "Mom, where are we going tomorrow?"  That girl's always wanting to have a plan.  
• She loves to pretend.  We are constantly pretending as we play.  "Mom, pretend that we are at the swimming pool."  "Pretend that you own a pet shot and I bring my sick animals to you." "Pretend that you are the kid and I am the mom."  You get the idea.
• She is still very athletic.  She's been in gymnastics and athletically, blows most of the kids out-of-the-water.  She also has been doing swim lessons and has more endurance that most of us dream of and can actually swim.  She loves climbing . . . especially in trees.  And, she is constantly running all over the place during the day.  When the doctor gave did her 4-year-old wellness exam he turned to me and said, "she's going to be an athlete, isn't she?"  She's built so tough and muscular.  
• She is getting much better at riding horses.  She's advancing to a full-size horse that she can almost ride all by herself.  She sits in the saddle and rides while Beau helps lead the horse.  However, the goal is to have her riding all by herself with the reins by the end of the summer.  
• She has LOVED hatching baby chicks the last few months.  She absolutely adores the baby chicks and would sit and hold them all the day long if she could.  They just might be her favorite animal.
• She loves fry sauce.  She'll dip anything in that stuff.  She would eat it plain if I would let her.
• She loves to "sneak into mom and dad's bed" in the middle of the night.  A lot of times when we put her to bed she'll say, "I'm going to come sneak into your bed during the night."  When she gets up to go potty, she'll do just that.  I know some parents absolutely do not allow this.  But, we do.  Time goes by so fast and this won't last forever.  So, we're taking these snuggles and cuddles while she is freely giving them to us.  
• She loves to say "last night" when she refers to anything in the past.  "Mom, I got an owie last night."  "Dad, It was my Birthday last night."  These things could have happened last month, but she still says, "last night."
• She is the 2nd mom around our house. She's always watching Adeline, telling her what she can and can't do, and making up all the rules.  This is very helpful at times and not so helpful at others. This trait just comes from being the oldest girl in a family.  Right?  (I suppose I know a little about that.  Ha!)
• She is starting to read. She can sound out words and usually gets the phonics right (man, watching her sound out words reminds me how hard our language is and how many exceptions to letters/sounds we have!).  She's not quite sure how to smoosh it all together once she has sounded it out, but that'll come soon enough.
• She loves to chase birds and butterflies.  She has high hopes that she's actually going to catch them and is slightly disappointed every time when they fly away from her, but she still loves the thrill of the chase.
• She loves to sing and to lip sync.  Her mind is incredible in that it memorizes stuff SO fast.  She picks up on songs almost instantly.  She'll lip sync and dance for us and we LOVE it.
• She always wants my hair to be down.  She's slightly obsessed with this.  She will sometimes have a small meltdown if I refuse to wear my hair down (you know . . . those days when you just don't have time to wash it and you have to pull your dirty hair up into a messy bun or a ponytail?).  She's even been known to be concerned about my hairstyle during potty breaks at 4am.  Oh, she's funny!
• She loves to have her hair down and lately she wants it straightened with the "hot thing."  She's learned that straight hair = less snarls.  So, we see her hair straight more often than naturally curly these days.

This girl is growing up fast.  Way too fast! Oh, how I love her so.  

Father's Day 2016

Beau's Father's Day was busy.  We had a farewell to attend for a great friend down in Ephraim, UT that day.  So, that took most of our day . . . . which he loved.  He loves being in Ephraim and we absolutely love any chance we get to spend with the Howe family.  I'm kind of mad I didn't get a photo.

We did stop to visit Beau's step dad and my dad on the way home.  Both visits were great.  We're so grateful for what our dad's, and now the girls' grandpas, do for us.

By this time, it was late and the girls fell asleep on the way home.  So, Beau got to open his gifts the following morning.  The girls LOVED being his helpers.

He got new clothes, a new lunch box, and more tools.

I just can't help but say how awesome of a dad Beau is to our two girls!  He seriously loves these girls with all that he has.  Evie and Adeline have brought more purpose to his life and he can't wait to get home to them at the end of every work day (they can't wait either…….you should see the smiles and the cheers of excitement when he walks through the door).  He loves spending time with them (dancing, reading, riding horses, swimming, etc.), he loves helping to care for them, and he adores them to pieces.  He is adamant about teaching them valuable skills, keeping them safe, and showing them how to play and work.

These girls are SUPER blessed to have such a wonderful father and I know Beau would say he is MORE blessed to have such special girls.