Do I have to have a title?

So no pictures in this post. Why, you ask, does the photographer have no pictures. Very simple, it's like the shoemaker whose kids have no shoes. Except, I have taken some pictures, I just hardly looked at them or processed them at all. I have Halloween pictures, California pictures, day to day pictures... but none to post today.

Life is on super ultra hyper speed these days. It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is this week.

The girls are doing well although they both were sick this week, they are better now. Christian is working crazy hours and we feel like we hardly ever see him. I have been super busy doing photography, to see that, click here. We chose not to get the house I wrote about before because a house we really wanted and tried to get back in July, came back on the market. So we cancelled escrow on the house in Villago and are now in escrow on a house in G Diamond Ranch and are set to close in just about 2 weeks. We love it and are so excited but it is hard to believe and I don't think it will seem real until we have the keys and move in. I am looking forward to a sweet ending to a 6 + month house hunt ordeal. Despite all the business, life is good. We are so blessed and grateful to have two amazing girls. Julia is so big and is seriously like a little girl now. She's 30 pounds and 3 feet tall (and she's not even two yet)! She is talking a lot and adores playing with her sister. Eliana is going to be five in 18 days (I know the days b/c she asks me how many more every day) and is becoming a big girl.

The speed at which life is going scares me in a way, I want to savor these times with my girls while they are little. I don't want to forget what they were like, what they said and did when they were at the stages they are at now. I am trying to be less busy so that I can have more moments with them and keep better track of our memories as well. Is that possible? After the holidays.... I hope.

Pictures to come soon.

Kung Fu Panda

On Friday I took Eliana and Bethie out for a fun photo shoot. Eliana did very well considering sometimes she gets sick of me taking her picture. This is one of the fun shots I got of her. It really shows her personality... she is so daring and fun and ready for anything. I love that girl even when she is a challenge. To see more click here

Oh and Eliana and I decided this was called the Kung Fu Panda Shot...thus the title of the post.

Conference Weekend with Grandpa and Bedste

Conference weekend is one of my favorite parts of the spring and fall. It is so great to hear the counsel of the prophet and other church leaders. I am always uplifted and strengthened and have a renewed energy to do and be everything I want to be. (for more info on conference or to read the proceedings click here) Of course, it is always a task to keep children busy so I can focus. Much of my actual learning from conference comes later as I watch and re-watch and listen to the talks. This year, Christian's parents joined us. It was great to see them! The girls had SO much fun visiting with them! It was an awesome weekend! Thank you for taking the time and making the trip Grandpa and Bedste~ we really appreciate it!

Julia loves to color these days. Usually on anything BUT paper... like walls, tables, floors etc.

Julia had so much fun with her grandparents!

Between sessions we went to the park. Notice that one picture has a purple sky... Eliana was "helping" me convert the pictures and this was the way she liked the picture.

Moving...

Yes, it's true! We found a house!! We will be moving sometime at the beginning of November. It is a home that was in foreclosure and we are officially in escrow. It is perfect for us and has a KILLER park right across the street! I am a little afraid to post a picture of it online because I have heard a lot of scary blog stuff lately. So, maybe later, but not now. It is out of our ward but it's still really close. Here are the reasons you should still be our friend, even though we will live like 5 mins further away...

1. It's really not that far away! Even though you may think it is, it's not! Seriously! The hardest part about going somewhere is getting in the car, right, so once you're already in the car, just keep going. It's not like most of you can walk to our house anyway!

2. We will have a AMAZING park right out our front door!

3. We'll be close to Fry's... you can drop your kids off while you shop.

4. It has an amazing studio... and you know, people who hang out at my house a lot, end up with pictures of their kids.

5. Because we are cool for goodness sakes!!

October is here...

I can't believe it's October already! I was looking through my September picture file and realized I missed a few things.

Both girls LOVE and ADORE their Daddy (he is a pretty darn good one!) and love to smother him at times. He's a good sport and allows them. Here is Eliana just chillin' on Daddy's shoulders, watching a little TV (probably sports.. :)

First (or third) Day of Preschool

This is Eliana on her first day of preschool away from home since her actual first day was at our house. Yeah, I really didn't do her hair or get her dressed up, but that's okay for preschool right?


Our primary did a field trip to the Mesa LDS temple a few Saturdays ago. The girls and I got to help clean up the grounds. We cleaned light poles. It was fun and I was grateful the girls had the opportunity to serve and see the importance of keeping the temple grounds clean.

Julia is quite the little girl now. She loves to do everything! She keeps up with her big sister really well. She ADORES Eliana. Whenever Eliana isn't home, Julia runs around saying, Ahhnannaa........ Every morning when they get up Julia gives Eliana big hugs. It's so cute. I LOVE IT... seriously, seeing my girls love each other makes my heart melt!

Preschool Field Trip

For preschool on Thusdary, Amanda arranged for her husband, Mike and two other DPS officers to teach our preschool group about safety. It was really awesome! Eliana loved it and I was so glad she learned some great things!

Julia's Baby

Awhile ago I found this cute little doll that looks like Julia. She adores it (although it may not look like it) and calls it her baby. It's so cute when she cuddles and hugs her or eats her...

Yesterday morning, Eliana put these sunglasses and the following conversation began:

"Mommy, how do I look?" asked Eliana.

"You look super cute." I said

"No, Rockin' " She responded.

Where does she come up with these things?

I guess the picture is pretty self-explanatory. Julia has learned to drag the chair from the table, into the kitchen and get whatever she wants. Nice.

This and That

Thanks to my super industrious, incredibly capable homemaker friend Tiffany, I participated in making peach jam and grape juice this week. She also bottled peaches, which I had a quick lesson in. Of course Christian and the girls are happy with the results and it was a lot of fun. Tiff and I love to spend time together but don't want to waste time, so we always try to be productive together. Thanks Tiff, you should get a homemaker of the year award.

As seen in an earlier post, we had preschool at our house this week. It was lots of fun and I am so glad that I have a break for a few weeks. We have a great group of kids and that makes it so much fun.

We were talking about body parts and the letter A so we made (A)pple cider... and enjoyed the great aroma that filled the house (noses). The kids did so well stirring. I really thought they'd end up spilling a lot and they didn't spill any.

Making funny faces...

We picked up stuff with our toes. It was very interesting that the girls did pretty well with it and the boys stuggled.... I mean really struggled. Must be a developmental thing.

As for our house hunt. It's a very elusive hunt. We hope to find something soon. Eliana talks about our realtor and even added Robbie into our family picture she drew. That's when you know you are spending a lot of time with someone. At least he's a great guy and we really enjoy working with him.

My favorite...

We have watermelons!!!!

Since we got back from Maine it seems as if time is FLYING by! I finally feel adjusted to life... but it certainly has been hectic. I have sorta headed up preschool this year with Brooke. I am basically in charge of the older group, her the younger. We have 15 maybe 16 kids this year!! In two classes, thank goodness. I have been busy organzing and planning for that. Today was the first day and I am teaching this week. It was lots of fun and the kids were great!

Eliana and Melissa today during snack time...

The kids loved tracing their bodies and coloring them in.

Our watermelons grew and are DELICIOUS! THis one was kinda heavy...

On a side note, why is laundry neverending??

The girls are getting closer every day and it is so fun to watch them play together.

Julia... (me playing with some ps actions)

Julia loves to do everything herself.

Beautiful evening sky.

I have this friend...

There is a chance that we, in our lifetime, will meet a friend, that will last a lifetime. I have a few of those and there is one in particular that has been unparrelled. This is her. Thank you Jenn for always being there for me and for being so amazing!

August

Oh how the time flies! We went to Maine for a couple of weeks and are still recovering from the trip. I can't believe the "summer" is almost over (although summer never really seems to end here in AZ) and that preschool starts again in less than 2 weeks. I have been sorting through the 2,000 + pictures I took in Maine... that's right over two thousand! So I am going to attempt to pick a few to post. Maybe I will have to start a Maine Monday entry so I can get all the stuff in that I would like to.



I absolutely love this picture of Julia. It was taken at like 6:45 in the morning. I know it's nothing spectacular but it is just a Julia expression and reminds me of our little walk. She decided to be an early riser on the trip and so she and I went for an early morning walk to the pond. It was a gorgeous morning and we got to see a great blue heron and a loon. The following is a picture from that morning... see how calm the water is with the reflection of the trees.



We also went canoeing a different day in the pond with Amara and Eliana. The water was a little rougher but it was lots of fun.





The Maine Coast


We went to the beach with my brother Travis's family and had lots of fun. Eliana and Amara had their daddies bury them....



Eliana and Amara in my parent's back yard.


I got some great pouffy pettiskirts and took lots of pictures of the girls in them. The following are a few in the yard.







Frogs


My brother and I loved to catch frogs when we were young so one afternoon I took Eliana out and we caught a couple of frogs. It was SO much fun! I seriously really enjoyed it. Of course we put them back after a couple of hours. Eliana loved her little frog friends, Ribbit and Ribbit.


Blueberries


We were in Maine at the height of wild blueberry season. The girls LOVED picking them and eating them, but mostly EATING them. A few did make it home and into pancakes and on toast. Yum, Yum!

That is just a start, but atleast I started!

Air Conditioning

There aren't any pictures for this post because I am not at home. We have been staying with our good friends the Ballards since Tuesday. Our A/C broke and they can't fix it until MONDAY! It seems so strange to me that they would have to ship common air conditioner parts in from out of state b/c they don't have them here, one of the hottest places in the US. Of course it has been about 110 everyday. We are so grateful to Tif and Charlie for being so hospitable.

Tuesday was a crazy day for us. Last Monday we found out that the bank accepted our offer to buy our house we've been living in for the last year for a smoking hot deal. We were so excited and it's been in the works since APRIL. We started the escrow process and they were doing the title work. On Tuesday the owner called and said there was a problem... that due to some failed businesses he has had some serious finacial problems (like so many others right now) and he knew there was a lien on his personal home but when they were trying to clear the title they found it has a lien on the one we have been living in (which is technically a business property for him) which won't be able to be removed. Thus, NO DEAL!!! We (especially me) where heartbroken. The house is going to be foreclosed on and there is still a chance we can get it but we will have to move out in probably 90 days and stay out until they figure it out and so now we are on the hunt for another home. Thank goodness there are lots of options right now. Maybe this is a blessing and we will find something better. So after I got off the phone with him I noticed it felt really hot in the house and and that Julia was sweating. I checked the thermometer and it was 84 in the house and it kept rising. Of course at this point I knew that the owner was foreclosing on the home and most likely couldn't fix it, which I confirmed by calling him. Yes, I did lose it momentarily. We have decided to fix it though since we won't have to pay rent for a few months and without A/C here you can't live in a house! It's about 115 upstairs in our house right now!!! It really makes me realize how stinkin' bad the economy is right now. So many good, honest, hardworking people are struggling. I feel SO SO SO incredibly blessed that Christian has such a good, stable job!

The last few weeks...

It's been awhile since I have posted. Life gets so busy sometimes it is hard to keep up with everything that I need to. I went through all my pictures and picked out only my very favorites... well 50 pictures later I decided that I really shouldn't do a blog post of 50 pictures. So I have just picked a few and will add a little more commentary than usual.

Julia experiencing an ice cream cone for the first time. She LOVES them. It's so cute. Another child with a sweet tooth. We'll blame that one on Christian!

Christian's brother Brent and his wife Kimberly and there three beautiful girls, Chance, Reese and Delainey visited with us overnight on their way from TX to CA. It was a lot of fun to see them and get to hang out a bit. The girls had so much fun. Delainey is 6 months older than Julia but they are about the same size. It was fun to see them play together. Eliana and Reese are about 4 months apart (Reese is older) and they also had fun . Chance took time to play with and read to Eliana and she really loved it. She keeps talking about her cousin Chance.

Beautiful blue-eyed cousins

Eliana and Reese had almost matching pj's.




Eliana and Dean did Kindergym together. Eliana loved it and has some natural talent. She is definitely built like a gymnast and has the energy for it.

Eliana has been in swimming lessons for 4 weeks so far and has two more. They meet 4 times a week and she loves it. She is such a fish. She can swim now with her head above water. (She use to only swim under water)


Christian had his 30th Birthday! We had a fun day. I made him a bundt breakfast cake and then made him an argentine dinner. We love Christian so much! He is such an amazing husband and father!



I just can't help myself. The other day I was playing with Julia and had to get out my camera. I got a bunch of great shots, here is just one of my favorites. She is growing so fast. She is into everything these days and loves to climb. If I don't have my eyes on her every second she is likely to be climbing up something or doing something dangerous! The following picture shows one of her favorite places to be!



Eliana has had lots of fun play dates with friends. Here she an Bethie were doing a fashion show and wanted me to take pictures. I told them to do something cute and this is what Eliana does... interesting.



Having a messy playdate with Madeline. (Thanks for the inspiration Gina!)



Playing in the water at the Phoenix Zoo. And yes, Eliana is having the water spray straight onto her bum.

Our garden is growing! Here are some squash we ate for dinner last night! Yum Yum!

Gotta go get Jewels... will have to add more later :)!