We have a Big Girl!

Awhile back I said that we were going to start potty training Ty. Well things didn't work out (I was sick and Ty fell into the toilet) and so we waited a few weeks.
We started on Monday and she has been doing well. The first two days were awful, but then the third day it is like it just clicked and she started doing very well. We haven't had any accidents during the night--- we just have problems during the day. :) She is even used to the idea of no pants, which is big for her.
I tried to tell her all the time how big of a girl she was, but she would get mad at me every time and say "Ty baby".
She is my baby and she knows it. I'm pretty sure she isn't going to give up the title.
Ty, you are such a big girl and I love you so much. Keep up the good work!!!

Nana and Papa

We were able to have some visitors who have been saying that they would come for months now-- Nana and Papa. We were all excited to see them and the crazies could hardly contain themselves when they actually showed up on Friday afternoon. They talked non-stop and when they showed them around the house they pointed out every little thing. I mean every little thing. It was hilarious.
Nana and Papa gave the twins their birthday present which is something that I have wanted to get them for awhile.


Here they are doing the same pose as the figures.


We only had one full day with them and so we went hiking at Red Rocks, ate at Chili's, went to see the new bridge at Hoover Dam, and introduced them to our favorite place-- U-Swirl.





They left Sunday afternoon. It was so fun to have them here even if it was for only a short time. We can't wait for the next visit!

Today is a Special Day!!!

Oh My Goodness. My little babies are 5 today.


I can't believe that we have gotten to this point. They will be going to school in the fall. Where did all the time go? But I do have to say that there is a part of me that is excited for them to go to school. I'm excited for them to learn new things. I'm excited for them to be out of the house for a couple of hours. It may help with all the fighting that we have been having in our lovely abode. Ty needs a break. :)
The girls were SOO excited for their special day. They have been talking about it for weeks. When they woke up they could hardly contain themselves.


Dan was at work and so we had to wait forever (until 9am) for him to get home so they could open a couple of presents. Jo Jo even told me at one point that we should just go pick up Daddy. When he finally got home, he ate and then the girls opened a couple of presents. (We left a few for the evening.)


After Dan slept for a few hours we took the girls (with their birthday money and toys-r-us gift card) and let them buy a toy from the store. They picked horses.
For dinner they picked cheesy potatoes and BBQ chicken. Yummy!


We then let them finish opening all of their gifts. They got some fun stuff and were excited for it all.


Don't you just love their cake this year? I was not feeling very good and this is what they got. We didn't even have enough of that gel frosting to write out birthday. Who cares, it still tastes the same right?



Ty is still just as scared as fire as ever. She even got down before we lit the candles because she knew it was coming. In this picture the candles had just gotten blown out and she was back up in her chair with such a sad look. Such a funny girl.


Oh my babies are not quite babies anymore. They are the entertainers of the family and LOVE to make people laugh. They are so wonderful and I love them so much.

Random Beginnings

The beginning of our year hasn't been extremely exciting, but we have had some fun here at home.
The girls have had fun coloring something at least every day.


They are so goofy when the camera comes out. They keep telling me to take pictures and then they get into new poses. Funny little girlies!



Jo Jo and Annie love to help cut the fruit when we have crepes. I believe this is their favorite breakfast.


They have been getting a lot of horsey rides from daddy. They would do this all day everyday if Dan let them.


There were a few days when the weather was absolutely gorgeous and so we, of course, spent some time outside at the park. I think one of the days we were there for almost 2 hours. The girls loved every minute of it.
One of the things we like to do is go to RC Willey and look at all the things that we may someday be able to buy. The crazies love going to the kids bedrooms and get on every bed. The bed they want so bad is none other than a princess bed. They love when we get to this bedroom.

New Years

The girls were all so excited to be able to stay up as late as they wanted. They were able to pick any movie that they wanted to watch and we watched movies and ate popcorn and snacks all night long.
Ty made it to 8pm.
Jo Jo lasted until 10pm.
And the winner of the night was little miss Annie. She went all the way to 11:30pm when we pretty much forced her to go to bed. She was completely forcing herself to stay awake. We could tell she was so dang tired, but she just wouldn't fall asleep. Crazy little girl!
I actually took a couple of naps throughout the night. I was super tired and couldn't make myself stay awake.
Dan and I started a movie when we put Annie to bed and so we didn't go to bed til early in the morning.
At least I was able to spend the night with my man instead of by myself like last year.




I need to write that I completed my goal for 2010. Yes I only made one goal for myself. I didn't want to overdo it! :) I was able to do it and so I think I will just make one goal a year. Maybe that way I won't be too disappointed with myself.
I can't believe it is 2011. Last year went by so incredibly fast. I'm excited for this new year though and all the fun times that we are going to have.
It is a new beginning!

Our Week With Visitors

We have had some visitors this past week. It has been a lot of fun and enjoyable being with family.
Grandma, Grandpa, and Sarah came for Christmas this year. We had a lot of fun hanging out with them.
Sunday Miss Z came down to stay at our house for a couple of days. The girls were so excited to have her here.
Sunday was Sarah's birthday and we had dinner to celebrate. The crazies all had a blast running around being rambunctious.
Monday we were able to go out to lunch with Whitney, Brent, Isaac, Jenna, and Dustin. We miss them and are so glad that we were able to hang out with them while they were here!
Monday night we went over to the Bellagio and walked through the garden. We will NEVER go again the week of New Years. That place was crazy!!!!




Tuesday I dropped the kids off with Dave and Grandma and then Brandy, Sarah and I went to have a girl day. We got our hair done and then went to lunch. It was a good break and I always love to get my hair done.


Wednesday we had to say goodbye to our little Miss Z. She was excited to be with her parents again, but we will miss her.
Grandma and Grandpa came over to watch the crazies Wednesday night while Dan and I went on a much needed date. We went to Outback and then to the movie.
Thursday Grandma, Grandpa and Sarah left. We were sad to see them go, but will see them again sooner or later.

Christmas

The girls woke us up around 7am and so we got up and had them sit on the stairs while we got dressed and woke up Ty. Doesn't she look so extremely excited to be awake!!!


When everyone was ready we came downstairs and looked through the fun stuff that Santa left. The girls were so excited to get exactly what they asked for. If the gifts weren't enough proof we ran downstairs to see if Santa had really come to our house. We put flour on the porch so he would have to walk through it to the door. He left a footprint!


We then opened our gifts. It was fun to watch Ty and her excitement. We could tell she really liked something if she opened it and immediately wanted to play with it and asked us to get it out of the box. And the whole time she waited she giggled. Such a cutie pie!







After gifts we ate breakfast (which didn't really turn out), got dressed, played with toys, and watched movies. It was our first Christmas here at home by ourselves and so I was planning on making a really good dinner. Well it didn't really turn out the way I was hoping. Maybe next year I'll get it down.


We played some more after dinner and then later that evening we went over to the Roper's. Grandma, Grandpa, and Sarah were there as well and so we had fun hanging out with them.

It was such a fun and special day and I'm so thankful for my little family and the fun that we have together. It was my first Christmas away from my family EVER and even though there was part of me that was a tiny bit sad, I was excited to have the morning with just us.

I feel so blessed to have all that I have. I am extremely grateful for the gospel and for Jesus Christ in coming to this earth. I haven't been an overly spiritual person, but it has been wonderful to talk with the girls and talk about what this season is really about. About 3 years ago we started a tradition to try to make Christmas a touch more meaningful. We all pretty much know the story of Jesus' birth and that he received three gifts. Well we only do three gifts for each child. They receive an outfit, a book, and a toy. Of course they still get Santa and stocking gifts and a couple family gifts, but we want to make it simple. Plus it helps with the stress of money. :) As they get older we will be trying to do more service as well, so they know that it isn't just about getting. Of course I had my moments when I wanted to buy them more (we all want to give our children everything), but all I needed to do was think about why we are doing this and it seemed to make me feel better. I fail in so many aspects of being a mother, but this is one thing that I want to try to do right. I know there will be times that it just won't work the way I hope, but I am striving to help the crazies understand and not be completely selfish. I'm not sure if this even makes sense, but it is late and I understand what I am trying to say :)
I hope you all had a very Happy Christmas. Ours was fabulous!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve...
This day is, I think, more exciting than Christmas Day. There is such anticipation for the big day. I remember growing up that we couldn't sleep at night and when we finally did fall asleep (no matter what hour) we were pretty much up at 2 or 3am to find out what we got. I think we got yelled at every year because we would be playing with the toys and be too loud. Such wonderful memories! Ha ha ha
Actually I think my favorite memories of Christmas Eve were the years when we were able to help fill the bags that Santa was going to give out that night. In the ward that I grew up in, all the men got together and some dressed up as Santa and they went door to door and gave each kid a chance to ask for something or to check on if they had been good. Then all the kids would get a bag of treats. My sister, mother, and I would go down the road to a neighbors barn and, with the help of others from the ward, we would fill the many bags with treats. We had a blast doing it. I wish they wouldn't have given up on that tradition. It was started when my Dad was growing up. So sad when it went away!
The crazies were filled with such joy this year. It is so fun to watch the kids as they get older and see how much magic is in this holiday that has been lost by growing up.
I've been trying to talk with them a little bit each day about what Christmas is really about. They understand that Jesus was born, but right now it is more about Santa. One day we will get there! :)
Anyways, the day went by quickly and we had a lot of fun. We watched a couple of Christmas movies, made cookies, watched on Norad's Santa tracker where Santa was, drove around to see some lights, opened presents, put flour on the front porch (you'll see why later--if you don't already know), read the story in the bible, put out the plate of cookies and milk and wrote a note.





The funniest part of the night was when we told the girls to go to bed and they realized that we weren't going to bed right then. They were so worrited that Santa might not come because we were still up. We explained that he would come, but he wasn't quite to our house yet.
I think that it might have been the first time in a LONG time that they actually went to bed without ONE peep. It was heaven!
I'm so excited for tomorrow!

Christmas Activity

We decided to do a gingerbread house this year.
The crazies loved building it.
Ty LOVED eating the candy.
I caught her on the table eating the candy for days after.
We made a beautiful mess.





We had a lot of fun and I think it just may turn into a yearly tradition.

New Game

I received the game Just Dance for the Wii for my birthday. It is actually pretty fun and a good workout if you get into it.
Dan was pretty funny to watch, but that is probably because he isn't a very good dancer. Sorry Babe! Maybe we can get a video of him at some point.
The girls were better then I thought they would be. We need to get them the kid version so it is a touch easier.

Just Dance from Tiffany on Vimeo.

They are into it at first, but kinda die out by the end. I love Jo Jo's shakin she has going on at the beginning. Such cutie pies!!!!