Family in town

My sister came into town with her kiddos, for a few weeks! It was so fun to hang with them! Becca had so much fun having sleepovers with her cousins London and Tyler. She was waking up at the crack of dawn to play with them! Rachel of course was a big hit with London and Tyler, they were always wanting to hold her, and play with her:). We went swimming (when it wasn't raining outside), went to the Library, the children's museum. We went for nature hikes, and just played played played! We sure miss them already:(. Here are a few pictures from the past weeks! My camera died half way through the trip, and I never got it charged, so I missed out on a lot of pictures :(. The Girls had a blast playing in the rain with these umbrellas! However after everyone started getting wacked in the head with them, the umbrellas went into hiding :).

After sidewalk drawing, we had some serious chalk bottoms :)
This was on the roof top at the Salt Lake Library! I was having bad allergies that day, as you can see:(.
I got smarter the next time the kids did some chalk drawing, and removed Rachels bottoms all together :).

This book rocks!!

If you have children this is a must read! I know there are some people out there who are against schedules, for those of you who are not you really really should read this book. It really gives you a heads up and better understanding for infants, and children's need for sleep, and a schedule. It goes through each age group and really teaches you about what it says "healthy sleep habits". This is going to sound like a cheesy testimonial but I have to give it anyway:). We have put this book to work with both our kiddos, and it has been a life savor! Our kids go to bed around 5:30-6:30 p.m. When I tell this to people this they look at me like SERIOUSLY!? The response I get is "oh well your lucky my kids won't go to bed at that time". The thing people don't get is that truly they can and they will, you just need to put them on a sleep schedule. As kids get older there bed time starts to advance to like 8, but that's not until they are around 7 years old. Anyway, the fabulous flip side to this bedtime is that Nathan and I get plenty of adult time, and much needed bonding time with each other! Honestly since we have had kids I have never felt like I have been deprived of me time, or being able to spend quality time with my husband because my kids are in bed getting the much needed sleep they need, and I am getting the down time I need. I know some people also believe it is selfish to let there kids "cry it out" (which is one of the methods in this book). I personally find nothing selfish about letting your child cry it out because you are teaching them to self sooth so they can sleep easier. And it is incredibly liberating for you as a mom to know that when you put your child down (awake) they will fall asleep with out you rocking them to sleep every night. At least that is how I feel:). And they only cry it out for the first few weeks of getting them on this schedule after that it is pretty smooth sailing. Another benefit that the book talks about is sickness. If your child is getting the good sleep that they need, they usually do not get sick as easily. It is so important for little immune systems to get good rest. And we have found that to be true with our kids. They hardly ever get sick, no ear infections Nada! And if they do get sick recovery time is fast. This may not be the case with you, but no matter what time Becca goes to bed, she is up bright and early at 6:30-7 o'clock, but is always much happier when she gets to bed early. Rachel has been going to bed around 5:30 and wakes up around 8 a.m. sometimes 9 a.m.! Anyway I know this got a little long, I just can't help it! When you have info that is so good you just want to share it with everyone so they can benefit from it also! So go to your local library and check this book out or buy it! I think you will find it to be pretty fabulous :). This post was not meant to brag, or to make anyone feel bad! It is simply just to share some WONDERFUL (I think) information! :)

Love Lauren

Update on the girls

These two munchkins seem to be changing all the time, I can't keep up with them! So I thought I better write down a few updates:).

Becca

Has been saying such grownup things lately, Nathan and I try to hold a straight face. Here are a few things she likes to say.....

We were all sitting up to the table to have dinner and Becca says..

"Sooo I had a fun day" she says this a lot lately so she can dive into to telling us all she did. She will ask Nathan at night to ask her about her day, it is so cute.

Anytime I ask her to clean up her toys she responds with...
"I'm so very tired mom" and does a fake yawn! She thinks being tired somehow gets her out of cleaning, it has yet to work:). She uses the word very a lot, Like this one "mom...I'm so very hungry".

Nathan comes home for lunch a lot now that busy season is over. Becca likes to be like him, so when we go outside to ride bikes she will give me a kiss good bye, and say "I have to go to work now mom, I'll be back for lunch". She gets a very serious look when she says this, and then rides away on her bike and comes back one minute later to tell me the same thing as before. :)


Rachel

Has finally learned to walk! And thinks it is the greatest thing!

She loves me to read books to her. Her favorite book is "Good Night Moon." She will walk around with it all day. She is constantly walking over to me with her book and she opens her arms for me to pick her up and read it to her! How could you resist that!? It is so CUTE! AHH!

She loves to growl! It is so funny! She is always growling, apparently she gets this from me. She likes to wrestle with Becca, and lets out big growls!

Anyway here are a few pics I took of them because they looked so cute!

A new YOU living room makeover!

It all started with me wanting to sell our couch, and then it turned into me just changing the whole living room altogether. I liked it ok before, but it just never felt like me. So I went a little crazy:) I wanted a couch from Ikea because there slip covers are MACHINE WASHABLE! Brilliant in my opinion especially when you have children. We already had a white chair from Ikea that I loved for that very reason, it always looks clean YEA! So the other deal going on at Ikea right this very minute is this.... If you spend a certain amount on living room furniture you get an Ikea gift card in return!!! So because I bought a new couch I got 100.00 from Ikea! YEA again! So anyway I bought a new rug coffee table, lamps and pillows, all thanks to my gift card. I sold my old lamps on KSL (I love that sight) for 70.00, and my old couch for 480.00. I put the money I got from those items towards my new living room. I then painted our armoir and put new hardware on it. So the total amount I spent on my new living room was.........!!! 86.00$$ Fabulous! I am still in the process of making new art work for the room, and making a sofa table for my lamps, but it is just about done! And now here is a before pic of the same room, and the lovely results (I think:) of the new room!

Before Picture of room and armoir

The painted armoir

Mothers Day

So on Mothers Day Nathan had to lead the music in church because that is his calling, and he loves it. So I was out in the hallway with the girls, and it was so cute to watch them! Anytime when we would sing a hymn Becca wanted to get up and dance with Rachel of course wanting to follow, by the end of the meeting Becca had all the kids in the hallway dancing with her (I think the parents thought I was a bad influence:). After church the girls went down for naps, and then my parents and brother Alex came over, and my Dad made dinner! And Nathan cleaned all of the dishes:) Which Nathan usual does anyway. Then we went outside on the patio and just talked and played out by the water fountain. Then Nathans mom and dad came over for a visit. We felt pretty spoiled to have both sets of parents come to our place, I think it should have been the other way around. Anyway Happy Mothers day a little late to all of you Women out there, mothers or not :). I feel so grateful to have 2 wonderful mothers in my life! I just love you guys and appreciate all you do! Here are a few pictures from the day.

Family Pictures!

I am so excited to have these! I have been wanting family pictures for so long, and finally we got them done YEA! Thanks to our good friend Travis Richardson. It was so much to fun, thanks again! You should check out his website! http://www.travisjphotographyblog.com/

I posted a lot on here because we just could not decide we loved so many. Tell us your favorites!

Things I LOVE about Summer time!

Now that I have kids I seriously have gone back to loving Summer like I did when I was a kid! I just get so excited for the girls to wake up from nap time so we can go be outside in the warm sunshine, and play on bikes, and eat Popsicle's and watermelon! YEA! And as soon as our pool opens, we will be in it no doubt just about everyday! I just have so many fond memories of being a kid, and a lot of the best memories include summer time! My sister, little brother and I use to play for hours on end in our sandbox growing up, we would fill it with water and play play play. Riding bikes all day! Bryn I don't remember how old we were but I think for one summer straight you could find us on our bikes everyday! Night games! Oh I loved night games so much, good times:). Disney Land was a summer vacation we did about every summer, and I still love it! Any who as I started writing this post I thought it would be fun to post some pics of me from when I was younger of summer activities, these are not flattering pictures but hope you enjoy!

Disney Land! A major summer favorite! Guess which one I am in this pic.
I am pretty sure that is chocolate all over my face!

I never could pull a normal face in pictures when I was little! This was in our backyard
I believe this was in middle school, and that is Bryn Dahle, and Jessica Burton, with Simba Bryns dog. I loved sleeping outside in the summer! Who didn't?


This was at Del Coronado Beach! I love that place, and I loved this trip because it was just me my mom and my sister so much fun!

5K run and a new hair cut!

So this last Saturday Nathan and I went and ran the 5K, actually walked would better describe what we did :). I am not going to lie I probably would not attempt that again with 2 kids waking them up at 6:30 in the morning but all in all it was fun, and such a beautiful day out! YEA for Spring time!! Becca and Rachel were really good sports about it, up until the end of the race they sat pretty still and happy in the stroller eating snack:). Can I tell you how excited I am getting for warm weather!? I'M SO EXCITED! I said it now I feel much better WEW! Seriously though what a happy time of year. I was at Walmart grocery shopping the other day and spotted a watermelon, and I just about cried. Anyway I also decided to chop my hair shorter the other day and I love it! It's fun to have a change, plus I could not take one more day of blow drying my hair with it being as long as it was. Well anyway here are a few pics from our weekend.

Easter

So on Easter Sunday Nathan had to go out of town:( at like noon. So the morning was a bit crazy for us trying to get ready for church getting Nathan packed, breakfast blah blah blah. My parents and brother Alex came over for Dinner, so the girls opened baskets then. I had an Easter egg hunt all planned out for the girls, I was so excited to do this for them. I was thinking I was so smart hiding the eggs a few days before in a spot I think Becca will not find them....Little did I know! Turns out Becca knew all along where I had kept the eggs before I was going to put them out! I walk into the kitchen to find Becca getting all the eggs out and going to hide them...What? I though that was my job? Oh well! She had so much fun hiding and finding the eggs then doing it all over again (the rest of the day). These are just a few pics from the day.

A typical week

Our weeks and days are the same usually, and I like it that way. I have come to love so many things about being a mom. I love being home with the girls. We wake up in the morning to Becca having already changed her outfit 3 times with different dresses (she is obsessed with dresses). She then goes and plays quietly in her room till Rachel wakes around 7:45, and that is when we wake up for the day. We make breakfast (we are not cereal people). Nathan goes to work, the girls and I play in the front room while I then clean up breakfast mess. Rachel goes down for a 1st nap. While Rachel snoozes the times away Becca and I usually put together a puzzle or she reads books. I try to get a load of laundry in each day around this time also. Rachel wakes up, we like to have bath time around then or after her second nap. We make lunch, and play some more:). Girls both go down for an afternoon nap, along with myself :) If I don't nap I like to clean or get comfy up on the couch and read or just sit and think (usually about decorating). When both girls wake up we like to go out if it's nice, or go to the store (I love Target). If we don't do either of those things we color, have snacks, maybe watch a movie while I make dinner and anticipate when daddy gets home. The girls get so excited when they hear that garage door open, they both go running for the door (Rachel crawls as fast as she can:) to see him, it is so cute! We eat dinner, put the girls to bed Rachel at 6, Becca around 7. Then Nathan and I talk or I will go run some errands. We usually talk, and clean the kitchen at some point:). And that sums up our most typical day. It probably sounds boring, but I have come to love it so much. I know that life will not always be this relaxed when the girls get older and get involved in sports, school etc... But for now I enjoy how my life is. And love these little girls so much, they make our life happy:) If you got this far in reading thank you. I am horrible lately at keeping a journal so for now this will have to work. These are a few pics from the week.

Hot chocolate in April???

So Today Becca wanted to go outside. She has been really confused lately with all the snow we have been getting, and thinks Christmas must be here any minute! So I decide that we should make some hot chocolate since it's snowing and Becca has been outside in it. What is wrong with this!? I am all geared up for spring and sunshine, instead we are listing to Christmas tunes (thanks to Nathan:) and drinking hot cocoa. Oh well I guess I will just try to enjoy it while it is here, Spring should be around the corner any minute right? Oh wait no it must be Christmas I am the one confused here, Becca had it right haha. Well hope all of you are having a Merry Christmas and a Happy Easter week!