GIRLS...

ya gotta love them.

I love my sweet girls,

even though they can be VERY emotional most of the time we do have a great time.

(I don't get many pictures of me and the girls so we took some the other day at the park. I know I am a little bias but they are cute...and growning up way too fast.)

Video of Savannah Waterskiing

Here is the video of Savannah waterskiing (that I tried putting on with all the pictures but had trouble), I don't have the first part on this recording (yes we have more recordings of it) because I was taking pictures and it wouldn't let me download the whole thing so here is just a little bit of it. The very last part is my favorite and it cuts off a little bit but it shows how much fun she had.

(You may want to turn off the sound so you don't have to hear all the yelling and talking.)

Balloon Festival

This year might be our last year here in Iowa so I want to do a few things we haven't done yet. A couple of days ago I took the girls to Indianola to see the Balloon Festival.

It was really fun! I have never been to a Balloon Festival (I do remember seeing them fly over our house in Utah as a child and one landing in the field in our backyard...that was cool but I have never been to a Festival.) I don't know how much fun the girls had but they were really good and seemed to enjoy dancing to the music, see the balloons, watching them go right over our heads, and repeating over and over which one their favorite was.

I love spending time with our children, I just wish Jason could have been there. (Boards... can't wait til they are over.)

This is my favorite picture. I loved watching them go off into the sun.

How neat would that be.?

UTAH

The girls and I went to Utah 2 1/2 weeks to see family while Jason was left behind to study for his Step 2 Boards. We missed our Dad a lot but we had a great time seeing and spending time with family.

The girls did a great job on the plane. We had a direct flight but that ment we had to get up at 4:30am...I thought they would go back to sleep...boy was I wrong, it was like Christmas Eve.

On the way home they did good to...still no sleeping even though we landed at 10:45 (25 minutes early so I really can't complain).

When we got off the plane Olivia made her annoucement (see post below) and then thoughout the day as people came over to see us it was really fun to see everyone's reactions.

First Day Madi claimed this bike as hers and rode it all the time.


LAGOON

Madilynn, Mikaela, Max, Savannah and Olivia

Olivia and Madi on the boats...Olivia cried on almost every ride but still wanted to ride.

Savannah and Mikaela on Dinosaur Drop.

Everyone Riding the train. Grandpa, Olivia, (Jen's Mom hiding), Shawn, Cole, Grandma, Mikaela, Savannah, Madilynn, Max and Jen. We had a great time. Lagoon is always a highlight of our trips to Utah.

We don't get to see Grandpa and Grandma Duck (Spjut...she talks like Donald Duck and Savannah gets confussed on all her grandparents name so we name them grandpa and grandma Duck) very often so it was a treat to be able to see them this time.

New Dress Ups is always a good thing when we visit.

THE TREE HOUSE

Fire Fighters Josh, Riley, Paige, Sierra, Madi and Savannah (Olivia was afraid of the stuffed dog)

Sierra and Olivia having a tea party.

Madilynn

Savannah

We had the opportunity to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. It is beautiful and it was a great experience for our girls to see inside a Temple and feel the Spirit that is there.

Bear Lake
I love spending time at Bear Lake it was like my second home growing up. So it was fun to go up and spend a week up there playing, hanging out, being on the beach, boating, etc...

Savannah, Madilynn and Olivia I love this pictures because it shows their cute personalities.

(Olivia's eye's are not closed that is her smile) Katie (my sister), Madi, Riley, Savannah, Paige and Spencer (Katie's Husband). Madi driving Grandpa's boat. Madi, Paige, Sierra, Savannah, Olivia, Riley and Josh (He is probaly crying because he is the only boy in the family.)

Madilynn, Olivia, and Savannah with my parents

Savannah Skiing at Bear Lake (after she is offered $10 from Grandpa)

Savannah making sure the ski's fit. After tears, lots of "No I don't want to" and me saying "Yes you are doing it!" ... she was up and skiing... the boat slowed a little do to grinding up sand and she ended up squatting the rest of the time but she DID IT!... and LOVED IT!

$10 and for a little extra bribe Jason offered $10 too. Madilynn jumping in the "deep" at Bear Lake. Swimming with Cousins On your mark, get set, GO! Swim race at the pool. Mikaela, Max and Madilynn all enjoying delicious pizza by the pool. Madi, Grandma (Jason's Mom), and Olivia. Saying Goodbye! Olivia and great grandpa Gardner. We are sad we didn't get to see everyone, hopefully we will get to see them next time. It was a fast trip and hard to say goodbye but we missed our dad and couldn't wait to see him again.

Thanks to our parents and everyone else who always make our trip full of GREAT memories. WE LOVE YOU!

January 2010

3rd year,Check

Jason is officially done with his 3rd year of Medical School.

He has worked so hard and we just want him to know how much we love him and appreciate all of his hard work.

4th of July Festivities

I love the 4th of July, it is a time to reflect upon and remember what this country is all about and all the freedom and sacrifice that comes with it. My favorite part is the parade and specifically when the veterans and the flag pass by...for the past few years it has brought tears and a great appreciation that I live in this great land.

This was our first 4th of July in Iowa away from family, it was kind of strange but we found some fun things to do...


Friday night we did some snakes and sparklers for the kids. Olivia loved them and couldn't stop jumping up and down yelling. After we rolled out the sugar cookie dough and made star cookies for our neighbors. I let the girls just go at it... I gave them dough and a cookie cutter and they did a lot better then I thought. When the night was over my sweet Savannah said, "that was the funnest night!"...
We may just have to make that a new tradition.


Saturday morning we got up and got ready for our big day ahead of us. We went and set our chairs up 3 hours before the parade (Waukee City) hoping we could even find a place....well we had a choice of anywhere we wanted to sit along the parade route. I was just laughing because in Utah if you don't set up 2 days in advance you don't get a spot.


We packed a picnic and took it to the parade while we waited for it to start. The girls loved it and we had a good spot there where no kids around us so the candy that was thrown to us was ours and we didn't have to fight for it. Below are a few highlights from the parade.





The best float in the Parade...probably because it was the only float. :)


Our favorite! I think it speaks for itself.


CANDY!
The only thing that matters to the kids.

After the parade...


we frosted the cookies...

did more Sparklers, snakes and snaps...

We went to the West Des Moines fireworks at the Raccoon River park...did some sparklers while we waited

and watched the beautiful fireworks...

light up the sky.

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday celebrating this great Country like we did.