Treasure Hunt

It's our last day of "freedom" till school starts tomorrow. *Sigh* Yesterday we went to Lowes for their bi-monthly FREE building project. I can't believe how much the girls look forward to this and LOVE doing it! Yesterday they made a truck - how cool is that?! I'll tell ya - if you have kids, you gotta get over there. Check it out at www.lowesbuildandgrow.com. I've heard Home Depot does something once a month too. After that, we had lunch at Olive Garden then went on a few geocaches (another thing the girls LOVE - treasure hunts!) Check it out at www.geocaching.com. You can type in a location, it will give you coordinates to a "cache," then you follow your GPS unit - it will point you in the direction and guide you within feet of the "cache." (There are hundreds of thousands of caches all over the world!) When you find the hidden cache, you can open it up - inside is a dozen or so trinkets that you can choose from, then replace with one of your own. Kiera chose a coin from Seattle and Makenna chose a bubble necklace. You can also log your journey into a journal that is enclosed in the cache. It is so fun.

So tonight the back-to-school jitters have begun. Kiera's so excited, but she's afraid she'll have nightmares tonight. She's so sad she won't be in class with her BFF (I feel like a teenager writing that!) Sophie. But she's excited to have 3 (3!) recesses AND lunch with all of her friends. It will be an adventure!

Misc. Stuff 'Cuz I'm Addicted to Blogging. . .

A few random things that I feel the need to document since I'm hoping to print my blog into a book by the end of the year (sorry to make y'all put up with it!)...

When we went to the County Fair last week, the girls weren't the only ones enthralled by the clowns who twisted balloons into animal shapes. I thought they were awesome and I figured I could learn a few tricks for my future in the clowning business! Anyway, the girls and I got some books at the library, some balloons at Zurchers...and then we made Quentin figure it out! Here's his first "balloon sculpture" - can you tell it's a black hummingbird?? Well, I'm impressed!



Quentin was lucky enough to have the day off again today, so we took the girls swimming. 'Tis the last "real" day till school starts on Monday. Kiera's SOOOO excited for school, but I'm sad - I'll really miss her being gone all day. And I'm dreading the "sitting down and doing homework" thing, plus I'll miss the "whatever" schedule we've gotten so used to. Oh well. It will be good to have a "real" schedule and new goals - for me it's like a New Year!




Inspired by Nikki's recent post as well as a couple websites I've perused this week (www.laptoplunches.com and http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com), I LOVE the idea of posting what we're having for dinner!! I love seeing foods and recipes that other people post on their websites, so why shouldn't I do it too? :0) Many of mt friends have wondered what we (as vegetarians) eat - so maybe every once in awhile I'll show ya! Tonight we had brushetta (sp?) - simple and yummy!! I take rolls and cut them in half, put them under the broiler for a couple minutes to toast them a bit, then top them with tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, a pinch of salt, and fresh basil. (I took the girls to the Farmer's Market last night while Quentin helped his sister and brother-in-law move into their first house; a cute little farmer tempted me with fresh basil and my mouth started watering. There's nothing like fresh basil!) Oh yum!


Again, inspired by someone else's blog (this time from Quentin's niece Jamie), Quentin took this picture of my grandma's hand, my mom's hand, my hand, and my 3 girls' hands. I love what Jamie said about her picture: "Much love, caring, soothing and hard work is held in this picture. It is so neat to see the beauty of a young hand, turned to a beautiful, wrinkled, aged hand. How lucky I am to have wonderful hands to follow!" What a neat idea, Jamie - you inspired me to have a picture like that of my own! Thank you!


Last but not least, Quentin and I got a VERY exciting phone call this evening from my cousin Aaron - he and his wife Lisa are expecting their first baby in February! Yahoo!!! We're SO happy for them - they'll be AWESOME parents! Yay!!

Field Trip

More fun-squeezing before school starts.... Today we met Quentin for lunch during his lunch hour. The girls think Daddy works at the coolest place 'cause it's just steps away from the Gateway fountains. Quentin and I grabbed some Subway sandwiches and watched the girls "frolick" in the fountains - well, except Makenna. She just watched from the sidelines. But even Kasidee got in on the action - she loved it! Afterwards, the girls and I went to the Salt Lake Library (my dad lets us borrow his library card!). We love it there! The girls played in the "Crystal Cave" and the "Attic" play areas and we got tons of books to come home with. What a fun day!

Bah Humbug!

So I'm trying to be a "greener" person and be a good example to my girls by recycling. We have 3 large garbage cans in our garage where our recyclables go till I can drive it over to Bountiful City's recycling station (usually about every 10 days or so). I have felt really good about doing this and am proud that my girls are more aware of "Reducing, Reusing and Recycling." When we went to drop off our stuff a few days ago, the recycling station was closed. I figured it was just temporary - but today my friend told me that Bountiful City has instituted a mandatory curbside recycling program and has discontinued their drop-off station. Aughhh! People in Centerville or Farmington have to PAY some company to pick up their recycling. Shouldn't they be paying US??? I'm so disappointed and frustrated - I don't know what to do. Plus here's another thought. I bought those cute little reusable shopping bags, thinking I was helping the environment. But now I have to buy plastic garbage sacks for my kitchen garbage cans. I guess it's all just part of the "things that make you go Hmmm...."

More Fun

As a "last hurrah" for summer, we're trying to squeeze in a few more fun things before school starts. We wanted to take Kasidee on a mini-train ride on her birthday last week but they were closed. The website said they were open today, so we went - but they were having a family reunion and weren't taking "normal" customers. Ergh! The girls were SOOO disappointed (we all were!), so we had to come up with Plan B pretty quick. The Farmington Pool was going to close in an hour, so we decided to fill up our little kiddie pool in the backyard. I thought the girls would balk, but they started jumping up and down with excitement. Whew! So we filled up the pool, turned on the sprinkler, and the girls got out their umbrellas. While they were playing, Quentin and I worked on a surprise we had for them. About a week ago when I was at the recycling center, I noticed someone had dropped off one of those Little Tyke purple dinosaur sandbox things. We've debated all summer about getting one, but Quentin wanted to add it to his "to do" list to MAKE a sandbox instead. But I couldn't resist. This sandbox was in pretty good shape - and it was free! So I nabbed it. We got some pea gravel (a little less, well, sandy than sand!) and filled it up. The girls thought it was the neatest thing. They got out their buckets and shovels and began digging - and throwing in pennies and nickels to see if they could bury them and find them again! So it turned out to be a fun day after all!

Little Walker

Kasidee's been taking a few steps here and there for a couple of months now, but the last few days she has really been taking off! (She loves pushing her dolly stroller, but she can walk without help now too!) She starts at one end of the room and toddles toward the other end. If she gets tippy, she'll sit down then start all over. She's getting pretty good at it - and she's very proud of herself (so are we)!

Home

I had a vivid dream last night that I've thought about all day today. I dreamt (dreamed?) that I looked out the window and saw a big wrecking ball in front of my front door. When I asked the person operating it what was up, he said, "Oh - didn't you get the notice from the City? We have to demolish your house." After much protesting, we realized it was to no avail. The wrecking ball guy was able to give us 12 hours to pack up our entire home and leave. I woke up with a heavy heart until I realized it was all just a crazy dream. But I've been thinking all day...I love our home! And not only just the house, but our neighborhood and the area as well! If we couldn't live here, where would we go? What would we do? I remember when we moved to Farmington nearly 9 years ago...I felt so far away and homesick. It took nearly a year for me to finally feel totally comfortable and "not homesick." 7 years later when we realized that we needed a new home, we knew where we wanted to be - we only moved about 2 miles south. We realized that South Farmington/North Centerville is where we want to raise our family. It is home. I guess that dream made me aware that I love my life right now - I love my family and our home. And I guess I'm so afraid of something taking that away. I've been thinking a lot about the "psychology of home" lately - how "home" means different things to different people (areas, floorplans, decorations, etc). But home is where our lives unfold. When I was little, my mom had a picture on our wall that said, "A house is made of bricks and stone; a home is made of love alone." Awwwww....

County Fair

So...we braved the heat and the crowds and ventured over to the Davis County Fair this afternoon (Quentin had the day off). Actually, there was a touch of Fall in the air, and it wasn't really crowded much at all. Perfect! The girls LOVED it! Makenna kept saying, "I love being on a farm!" We checked out the petting zoo, where a little goat was enthralled with following Kasidee around in her stroller. Then we saw the Paul Bunyan Lumberjack show, where they threw axes at a target, carved a big log into a bunny, had wood cutting contests and a log roll (you know, where the guys run on a log in the water and try to stay on while running the other guy off the log). We all thought that was pretty cool. Then we checked out the science discovery center and the "kid zone," where the girls all got a balloon animal (Kasidee was quite unsure about her swan). We were disappointed that the line for the free pony rides was reeealllly long, but we'll have to plan a September trip to Thanksgiving Point for one of their fun pony rides. Makenna tells us her life-long dream is to ride a pony. I guess we'll have to make that happen!




"MILKING" A WOODEN/PLASTIC COW!

Countdown

The pic doesn't have anything to do with what I'm going to write about - but isn't it a cute pic?! Anyway...so school starts in 11 days. I know most of you are jumping for joy, and in some ways I am - but mostly I am REALLY sad!! (I can't let on to my girls though!) Kiera will be gone from 8:45 till 3:25 - that's practically all day. And Makenna will be starting preschool 2 days a week. I'm looking forward to Kasidee-and-me time, but boy - it sure will be quiet! I have been absolutely amazed at how much fun Kiera and Makenna have had playing with each other this summer. They wake up, run to the toyroom and spend HOURS just playing with their dolls, or coloring, or whatever. It's hard to get them involved in anything else, but they just have so much fun together. It's fun to hear them in their "play talk." So Makenna's going to go through withdrawal when Kiera's in school. This time of year always gives me mixed emotions. Early Fall is probably my favorite time of year. But I also start getting a homesick-y feeling too (probably related to school jitters). I know my girls will have a blast at school. It's just hard letting them grow up!

You've Had a Birthday - Part 2

Well, it's been a 3 day birthday celebration! Makenna's 4th birthday on Thursday, a little family party on Friday, and Kasidee's first birthday on Saturday! We wanted to take Kasidee on a ride on a mini-train at the S&S Shortline Railroad in Farmington, but they weren't open. Rats! So we browsed at Bird World and looked at all the kitties, puppies, fish, birds, bunnies, and other critters. She LOVED it! (And we'll still take her on the train another day). We also visited Granny and Nana and just had an enjoyable day. My girls are growing up!...

Happy 1st Birthday Kasidee!

It's nearly 1:00 am and I'm still awake. I've been looking at my sleeping Kasidee and looking through the pages of her scrapbook that I recently caught up. I can't believe one whole year has passed since this little angel came into our lives! I seriously can't imagine my life without her! She is such a content little sweetie; she's so happy and gentle and cuddly. And she's funny. She cracks us up with the little things she does. We hope you have a great first birthday Little Sweetie! We love you SOOOOO much!

You've Had a Birthday...

Last year when I discovered that Kasidee would most likely be born VERY close to Makenna's birthday, I fretted and fretted. I wanted to make sure they each felt like they had their own special day. Well, their birthdays are the 7th and 9th - one day in between. And you know what? I think it's so fun to have a 3-day birthday celebration - our little family can celebrate together on the 7th and the 9th, and the 8th can be for a little party with family and friends!

So yesterday (the 7th) was Makenna's birthday celebration. Quentin took the day off and surprised the girls with some of their favorite cereals. Then Makenna got to open the gifts from us (Quentin got her a Barbie Wii game; Kiera gave her some My Little Ponies, and we also gave her a few games and a Strawberry Shortcake movie). In the afternoon, we visited Granny (my Mom) and Nana (my Grandma) - Nana had just gotten home from the hospital. Then later, we took Makenna to Cherry Hill. It has been her "lifelong dream" to go there. Grandma Stephens watched Kasidee for a few hours. We all had fun, but soon after we went down the waterslide for the first time, Makenna suddenly said she wanted to go home. We couldn't figure it out for awhile, but it finally came out - our fearless and feisty little Makenna was afraid of the dark parts in the waterslide ride. We all had fun though, and ended the night with dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory (with Kasidee too)! Tonight will be another little celebration with a few family and friends - I'll have to blog about that too!

Happy Birthday Makenna!

Happy Birthday to our sweet Makenna! Wow, 4 years old! She tiptoed into our bedroom early this morning and said, "Mama? It my bir-day?" Our sweet, spunky Makenna has blessed our lives in so many ways. Just a few of the reasons we love our Makenna:
* She is so sweet and kind.
* She's very creative.
* Her sweet, soft voice can melt your heart!
* Her squishy cheeks are so kissable!
* She's spunky and spicy - in just the right amount!
* She knows what she wants and will be very successful in life.
* She loves her sisters and is a great friend!
* She is a VERY good share-er!
We love our Makenna SOOOOO much! Happy Birthday Sweetie Pie!

How Embarrassing!

Okay, I know someday Kasidee may not forgive me for posting these pics of her, but I just couldn't resist. Here's the story: Last Sunday after church, we visited my sweet Grandma Johnson in the hospital. We had just gotten home from our camping trip the night before and had taken EVERYTHING out of the van so we could wash and vacuum it on Monday. Anyway, I changed Kasidee's diaper right before we left, but when we got out of the car, the vinegary smell indicated that she had a really messy diaper. Since everything was out of the van, we had no diapers. What to do, what to do? We figured we wouldn't stay long and could get home in time for a fresh change. But she kept screaming and screaming in the hospital room. We figured hospitals are prepared for anything, so Quentin asked a nurse if they had a diaper they could spare. Since the nursery only had newborn-sized diapers, the nurse produced something wrapped up in a pink square and said, "Well, here's, um, this." A maxi-pad. Yup. After laughing our heads off, we decided desperate times call for desperate measures. So we cleaned her up and taped the maxi-pad to her. Amazingly, it worked. In fact, I was hesitant to take it off when we returned home - I wanted to see how long it lasted. Quentin made me take it off after 3 hours - but no leaks!