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.

Spring Family Campout

We had a chance to go camping with a few other families in our neighborhood.  And, it just happened to be the warmest weekend of the year yet.  It was awesome!

We started with a campfire right from the get-go.  We roasted some hotdogs for the girls and Beau and I threw in some tinfoil dinners for ourselves.

We then set up our camp.  The girls LOVED the tent.  It was a like a little bounce house for them.  They could have played in that thing for hours and hours!

We had a lot of fun with the other families there.  The girls loved playing with the other kids.  

Plus, we brought a couple of our horses and we got LOTS of riding in.  This was the first time that Evie rode all by herself following Beau on her own horse.  This made my heart so happy for both Evie and Beau.  I think they are going to be riding buddies forever on.  And, talking about riding buddies . . . Adeline LOVES being around and on the horses.  They make her so happy.  She pulls and whines to be put up on a horse.  She loves to pet them and always giggles when she's around them.  So, I'm pretty sure we've got a couple of riding buddies on our hands.  :)

Camping is a LOT of work with little people.  But, for us, it's worth it.  We love making these precious memories and it's fun to watch the girls be so happy and free as they play around to their hearts' content.