Camping, anyone?

Last weekend, Hubert and I thought it would be a great idea to take both the girls down to Arches National Park and do a little camping. Sure, we haven't been camping for about 7 years, Olivia is 7 months old, and the nearest town is about 45 minutes away, but we figured we would give it a try. Luckily, we went went our good friend, Cara Baldwin, and her fabulous kids, which made watching Ellie much easier, but even though we had Cara, her kids, a beautiful campground, warm weather and blue skies, what really put a damper on the trip was the 80 mile an hour hurricane-like winds that were hitting us at every angle. It was truly horrible. But even though the conditions weren't great, we still had a great time. Here are some pictures.

Olivia had this look on her face every time we made a stop. She didn't love being in the car for 4 hours

A view from our campground. It was beautiful.

Ellie loved being there, even though it was so windy, as you can tell by her hair blowing.

Olivia and me after we spent the night with Ellie in the back of Cara's car. Sadly, Hubert slept in the tent which almost blew away and woke up covered in sand. Yes, it was horrible, but as you can see I couldn't have been happier for the sun to come up. Olivia, on the other hand, was not a "happy camper"

Hubert and Cara trying to put away the tents. It was so windy that we couldn't stop laughing.

After the tents were put away and everything was packed, we decided to forgo the second night we had planned to stay and go home. But even though the wind was horrible and it was hard to even stand, we couldn't resist the beauty of Arches, so we stopped. Hubert and Ellie hiked around a little bit while I stayed at the car while Olivia slept. But it didn't matter where I was because I was in awe of the rocks around me. Hopefully we'll go back soon.

6 Months Old!

Today Olivia is 6 months old and after an entire day of whining about how I need to blog about her big day, at least I'm pretty sure that's why she was fussy, I decided to let the world know that she has survived thus far. But really, these past 6 months have been wonderful with this little girl. Sure, sometimes she doesn't sleep great and she goes from 1 to 10 in about half a second, but I can't get enough of her coo's, her laugh that sounds like she's in some sort of pain, and her constant, huge smile. She is a wonderful baby and it makes me sad that she is already 6 months old, but I can't wait to see what the next 6 months will bring. Oh, and I have to credit the picture idea to my good friend, Amber.

Also, Ellie and I made cookies today for the occasion and this was her idea of "helping" me.

The Aquarium, and then some

This week, Ashley and I, along with the help of Patty, took the kiddies to the Living Aquarium and although Ellie has been asking to see the "fishies" for quite some time, you would have thought that when we walked in, we were walking into her worst nightmare. But, after a few minutes, and getting as far away from the octopus as possible, she was fine and we all had a great time. So here are some pictures of our fun day, as well as a few extras I thought we would all enjoy.

I had to put this one on because she FINALLY wore her apron!

Olivia's blessing

Last Sunday, we had the opportunity to bless Olivia and it was such a special day for us and the blessing the Hubert gave her was beautiful, even though she cried through the entire thing. But we were able to spend the day with family and close friends and I thought I would post some of those pictures of Olivia's special day.

The ladies

Here are some fun pictures we have taken of the girls over the last month.

Where did the time go?

We are about to get Olivia's newborn pictures taken and I was looking through Ellie's newborn pictures and I forgot just how small and cute and beautiful she was and still is and cannot believe how much she has grown. It's so true what they say about time flying by.

A moment...with Meagan

So there I was, standing on my Dad's front porch holding my screaming 2-year old and covered in her throw-up while my 6 week old is screaming from her car seat in the car. Patty came rushing out the door to help and I looked at her and said as seriously as I possibly could, "I don't know what to do." This utterance of mine brought on so many moments from the past 6 weeks and at that moment, standing there covered in throw-up, they all came to me at once. I don't know what to do...when Ellie throws her yogurt all over the carpet while I'm feeding the baby; when Olivia stopped taking naps; when Ellie throws herself on the floor of Target and screams bloody murder; when Olivia refuses to be put down so that I can eat lunch; when Ellie repeats the same thing that she wants over and over again until I say yes because I can no longer stand it; when both the girls start crying in the car the minute I pull out of the garage on our way to Salt Lake; when I'm in the middle of taking a shower with shampoo in my hair and Olivia starts screaming; when Ellie won't go to sleep at night and instead asks for a "sip of water" until one of us brings her some; when both girls decide that sleep isn't an option for their parents and keep us up all night. Now, although these moments make it sound like it has been really hard, there have been some truly great moments like when I get Ellie in the morning and she says to me, "Hi, mommy. Get baby livvy?; when Olivia has started to smile at us and shows us her adorable dimples; when Ellie gives me big hugs and tells me she loves me; when Olivia tries to eat my face which I am pretending that she is kissing me; when Ellie and Hubert dance; when Olivia goes to sleep at 7:00 and doesn't wake up until 2:00; when Ellie eats the dinner I made her and tells me it's delicious; and when Olivia cuddles right up to me and puts her chubby little arms around my neck. There are really so many more things that are great instead of hard, but I know that if there weren't any hard ones, I wouldn't appreciate the great ones as much and besides, how can it be hard to not love these two little girls.