Finally

I have finally figured out what I am going to be going to school for. OK, to be honest it is what I have always wanted to do. I am going to be majoring in Psychology with a minor in Social Work. I am a little scared because I know this means I am going to have to see some heartbreaking things, but it will hopefully be very rewarding too. I have always run away from the idea because I know the people I come in contact with and the stories they have to tell or the experiences they are going through might just break my heart. At the same time I know how important it is to have a compassionate person helping you through your trials. I am hoping I will be just that person. My goal is to either work in a school as a school counselor or to be a social worker in a hospital. I feel anxious yet at peace with the decision and hope it is the right one.

College

So now that I am officially a college student I find myself being a little more than overwhelmed. How do I balance school work and being a mommy? Then I have to be a wife somewhere in there too. I feel so bad telling the girls to go play and let mommy do her homework. They have been listening really well today, but I almost feel like I am neglecting them. I think they are going to start noticing the difference real soon since David will only see them about 2 hours total over the next 3 days. I am wondering if this is really a good thing or if I should have waited until the girls were older I mean I don't even know what I want a degree in yet. Oh well, I guess I will just have to stick it out and pray that I eventually fall into a groove.

Dozen Roses

Yesterday was David and my 4 year anniversary. I wasn't really expecting anything since we are celebrating tomorrow and I woke up to a dozen roses on the counter. I haven't ever been given a dozen roses and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I hate that you spend so much money to have a ton of flowers die at the same time. I have always told David to never get me more than 3 at a time. He figured since I wasn't feeling well he would count it as 'get well' flowers and 'happy anniversary' flowers. It was really sweet. The funny thing is that Kadence came in the kitchen and insisted that daddy bought them for her not me. By the end of the night she finally admitted they were mine. We ended the day with some take out Chili's with our girls, Jeff and Curtis. It was a nice way to end the day. I am so grateful to have such an amazing husband who is also such a good daddy. Although it did take him FOREVER to propose! I am glad that we were able to get to know each other for so long because we have had some trying times and if we didn't have such a strong relationship I know we wouldn't make it. I love you forever David!

Dinosaur Park

Last Saturday we went to the Dinosaur Park. We weren't sure if the girls...ok so we weren't sure if Kadence would get scared, but she actually really liked it. They loved looking through all the trees to spot the different dinosaurs. Even Shelby had fun pointing them out.

Daddy made sure to fit in the educational part of the dinosaur park. The girls were in absolute awe of it all.

We finished the evening off with Pizzeria Pizza and ice cream.

Splash Pad

On Friday we took the girls to a splash pad in South Ogden. It is completely free and I recommend it to anyone with small kids. It is a nice way to let them play in the water without the stress of constantly making sure they don't drown. My girls loved that they could be more independent than in a pool. Parents are welcome to play in the water as well.

Uncle Jeffy came along too!

Shelby might have enjoyed herself.....I'm not quite sure.

Kadence had a blast. They had little guns that she kept getting daddy and Jeff with. She thought she was SO funny.

We changed and ate some cotton candy before going to the park.


My little monkeys climbing the rock wall.

Shelby loves to pretend to do pull ups on daddy's pull up bar at home. The other day I asked David if she could 'dangle'. We found out that she can. We learned at the park she can also hang on rings. Don't worry Jeff is right there in case she lets go.

After the Splash Pad and the park we went to Subway. My intention was to take it home and eat it, but when David and Jeff got back to the car with our sandwiches we found out the battery had died. Luckily Grandma and Grandpa Joy came to our rescue.

The girls got tired of watching and thought they could just ride home with grandma.....Looks safe enough to me!

Our Craft Project

We thought it would be fun to do a craft project with the girls and I decided to share the idea. We love the idea of the bags with hidden items in them that keep your kids quiet during church. We didn't really want to spend what they charge in stores and wanted to put more things in since our girls are so young. We started off with two Sobe life water bottles. I found out that they shrink wrap their labels on instead of gluing them which means I don't have to try and scrub the glue off. We purchased two bags of sand from Michael's for $3 each and I mixed them. You could also use tiny beads although we found the sand works just as well for half the price.

We purchased some buttons and alphabet beads to put inside. We also rounded up some quarter machine objects and a few spiders from our recent trip to Chuck E Cheese. Make sure you write down a detailed description so you have a list of what to find. You can put whatever you think your child....or husband in our case would like to discover. You can also put as many things as you would like. We put a lot of items in so our girls always had a few things showing since they are so young. A few of the items are shown here.

We gave each of the girls a bag of 'treasures' to put into their bottles as we poured sand in every once in a while.

I decided to glue my lids on as an added security.

After making the bottles I realized that not only are they going to be good for church, but car rides and Dr visits. I hate sanitizing toys that have been dropped on the Dr office floor. Now one quick wipe with a Clorox wipe and it is clean and sanitized.

Planetarium, Picnic and Zoo

Yesterday was a very busy day. We started at the planetarium and we weren't sure if the girls would really enjoy it or not. Luckily....they absolutely LOVED it. Kadence loved looking at all of the planets, stars and moon. Shelby liked running as far away from us as quick as she could.

The Clark Planetarium has a Mars exhibit that looks like....well Mars. The kids are allowed to climb on the rocks and explore. There is even a sign that says 'these are real rocks and they are real hard' to warn parents that they aren't pretend rocks.

Kadence thought the spacesuit was pretty funny. She kept running over to look at it.

Like the Mars exhibit, they had a moon exhibit complete with footprints from a space shoe. I think we spent the most time running back and forth from Mars to the moon.

Kadence on the moon.

Shelby on the moon. She actually moon walked on the moon too which had David and I laughing.

After the planetarium we headed to the park for a picnic. I couldn't imagine eating in the zoo with Shelby running all over.

Shelby managed to find the only place in the whole park where there was some water.....Of course!

We were welcomed to the zoo by protesters.


They had volunteers all over showing us different animal skins. Kadence and Shelby both touched the coyote pelt.

The girls loved the waterfall in the Madagascar exhibit.

We had to go to the drinking fountain for their picture with the lion....Kadence took a drink

And Shelby played in the water.

On our way out we let them play with the giant ball fountain

I think this was Shelbys favorite part of the whole zoo!

We finished the day with Chinese and dippin dots.

Chuck E Cheese

So yesterday we took Davids brother Jeff to Chuck E Cheese for his 21st birthday .....and I forgot my camera! The girls were so good about waiting until everyone was done eating before going to play games. We definitely got our exercise in chasing Shelby, but it was so much fun. Jeff and Curtis were so cute with the girls. The girls and David and I were exhausted after 2 hours and it was surprisingly busy for a Wednesday evening. Afterwards we went to JcPenny where I spent $5 and got $40 worth of shirts for the girls. I love to watch for sales and use coupons it gives me a sort of high to see how much I have saved. We almost have our fall/winter shopping done which is exciting.

Kadence's Dr Visit

Yesterday we had to take Kadence to an Ear Nose and Throat Dr to see if her tonsils need to be taken out. We have been told they are very large by some Dr's and others have said they aren't that big. Recently Kadence has stopped breathing in her sleep. She has done it since she was a baby but now when she wakes up in the morning she tells us 'I didn't sleep very good.' It just about breaks my heart. We took her to her pediatrician who after a look at her tonsils wanted to skip a sleep study and go straight to an ENT specialist. Our ENT Dr. took a glance in and said, 'Have you guys seen these?!' I guess her throat doesn't have very much room left in it. When Kadence falls asleep and her throat muscles relax, her tonsils actually close off her throat. As she wakes up they tense back up and she is able to breath again. Kind of scary right? Our insurance will only let us go to Ogden Regional and Ogden Regional only gives our Dr two blocks of time a month at the hospital. So we have to wait, her tonsils and adenoids will be removed on the 18th of September.

McDonalds Playland

So I know most kids hear the word McDonalds and know they are going to play on the playland, but my girls don't even realize when they get a happy meal they get a toy. We always just go through the drive thru. On the way there, Kadence said 'We're going to Donalds!!' A few seconds later she asked, 'Like Donald Duck?' It was so funny.

The girls eating before playing.

Kadence was so excited about getting her own cup with a straw.

The girls were so happy to finally get to play on the toys.

But it wasn't very long before Kadence was crying to get down. She was SO scared. We coaxed her over to the stairs and were lucky we didn't have to climb in to get her. Although after the initial scare she went up and down just fine.

Kadence was upset that she was too short to climb up to the slide so we went to the park. She went down a slide and all we heard was 'Oh it was wet.' Her whole backside was definitely wet.

Shelby climbed all around like a little monkey.

I think this face says it all.

We ended the day with ice cream cones.....Kadence's favorite!

Treehouse Museum

We took the girls to the Treehouse Musuem and when we got there we were told it was Toddler Time and we could save $10 if we only stayed until noon.....we were only planning on staying until 12:30 so OF COURSE we saved the money. Shelby loved the fact that we would let her run where she wanted and touch anything. Although every once in a while she would stop running long enough to examine the display cases.

Kadence helped Daddy make an oragami turtle while Shelby played with sushi in the Japanese exhibit.

While going through the barn we were shocked that you were able to actually milk the giant cow. Kadence was the only one who wanted to do it and didn't want to leave.

We had to get a picture of both girls in the oval office.

The music room was Shelby's absolute favorite part of the whole museum. Both girls loved all the different drums.

There were a ton of xylophones type instruments on the walls.

The girls both were mezmorized by the fish tank.

The girls were exhausted by the time we left, but we ALL had a lot of fun! Later that day we went to the craft store to pick up items for our project on Saturday and then to the mall to play on the foam toys.

Camping

Ok, so the word camping is maybe not the word for it. Kadence helped David set up a tent in the backyard. I showed her how to hold the pole while he worked the other pole on the opposite side. Of course Shelby would rather play IN the tent than help set up the tent.

David and Kadence finally got the tent set up while I got the girls sleeping bags. They were so excited to play like they were camping! Shelby kept pretending to sleep and would even fake snore.

Kadence was up and jumping one minute and laying down pretending to sleep. She has been begging to go camping since she saw it on Mickey Mouse recently. After chasing Shelby at the Weber State fireworks this year we realized the backyard would have to do.

I tried to make it have the campground feel by setting up the table, tent and chairs by the firepit. David looks so happy because he gets to make a fire.

The girls made me laugh. Once they sat in those chairs they looked like they have been lounging around a campfire for years.

David's brothers Jeff and Curtis came to roast marshmallows with the girls.

Davids brother Jason and his wife Sage also came to roast. David helped Kadence roast her marshmallow. This is her first time being allowed to help hold the stick.

Shelby preferred eating the marshmallows by themselves without roasting them.

Kadence liked the smores as well as the unmaid ingredients. Davids brother Jeff caught her at the table sneaking marshmallows from the bag. All and all we had a fun camping experiance. (If the spacing is WAY off on this blog just know that I tried about 6 times to fix it before giving up.)