Leiden

Just now at breakfast, Leiden was drinking her milk, and she turned to me and said, "Where did this milk come from?"
"It came from the fridge. We've got a cow in there. Haven't you seen him?"
"No, no. That's not right. There is not a cow in the fridge. The milk came from the grocery store. The grocery store takes a bucket to the cow, and the cow drops the milk in the bucket, and the grocery store puts the milk into the milk container, and we buy it."

Clever indeed.

Video Update

Here are some funny little videos. Mac has learned a ton of body parts,

And how to count to three. Except for the times she says "One, two, ONE!"

Leiden, too, is learning. How to sing! She loves her Primary songs, and she sings them everywhere--on airplanes, in the car, around the house, and perhaps most fun, at the top of her lungs at both Target and WalMart!

Water Fun

So, Leiden has some issues with water. She was in swimming lessons for about 10 calendar days, and things were only slightly getting better there at the pool. One day we even had Leiden running away from the teacher outside of the pool. On the 6th day of lessons, she was just really unhappy in the water. She was whining, and almost crying. Then the rest of the day she was a wreck. Being the genius that I am, I didn't connect her 'off' behavior with swimming until the next morning when she burst into tears, saying she didn't want to go to swim lessons. When asked why, she said she was afraid of the water. Sheesh.

She really doesn't like getting her face wet. Bathtime can be traumatic if she is splashed or if the water gets even near her eyes. So you can imagine how difficult it was at the pool. Well, that evening, Brad got out the little pool, and put the kids in it to play. While Leiden would scream and cry murder if we dumped water on her head, she had no problem whatsoever with dumping it on Mac's head.


And Mac doesn't seem to mind!

Brad had just thrown a pitcher of water down at Leiden and kind of missed. That's why this picture is a relatively happy Leiden instead of a screaming Leiden.

All is well, everyone is happy.

And there goes Leiden again. I don't think we'll have the same problems with swim lessons for Mac!

Donuts

So, I've been hankering for some donuts. Doughnuts? Whatever. They've been on my mind. I don't like frying things much, as it smells up the house, and I can never get it right, but baked donuts are not what I'm looking for. Last Sunday afternoon, after I was fairly certain no realtors would call saying they wanted to come over, I made a go of it. What I really wanted was a recipe for those really great big huge chocolate donuts that are a deep reddish brown in the middle. None of the recipes say, "These are the donuts that are a deep reddish brown in the middle", so I had to just try one. Here they are. (They were overcooked, by the way, so too dry, and not, in fact, the ones that are reddish brown in the middle.)


Mac was thrilled. Chocolate is chocolate is chocolate. She can even say 'chocolate' remarkably well.


Leiden, too, was happy about the development that allowed her to eat something chocolate and gooey--and even happier about the fact that mommy gave her a second donut hole because she finished the first before I could get the camera out!


And then later, I came into the kitchen to this:

Hair Clips

One of the girls' new favorite things is playing with the hair clips. Mac has a really funny, wet way of saying it, and she'll grab one (after another, after another) off the hair clip holder and bring it to you saying, "pity". (Pretty.) Leiden likes to get in the game, as well.


Leiden thought it would be fun to put them in Mac's hair, too. Mac usually promptly reaches up and rips them out (and then hands them to you again), but she allowed Leiden her fun.


Leiden's final masterpiece.


Love it when they think they look SO PRETTY. Of course they do!

Salt Lake City

Here's the picture marathon--late--from our July trip to SLC. This was the first time we've had to, ahem, pay for our tickets, so that was different. We were all really excited to go! I spent the first week there with my family. On Saturday, we went to Heber to go on the Heber Creeper, and we visited my aunt Leigh, who now lives there in a gigantic home, which I did not get any pictures of. Here's my mom and Mac.

I really have no good pictures from the Heber Creeper, although Mac did a great job on it, considering how squirmy she is. We just kept shoving food at her, and that did the trick.

We spent the second week in SLC with Brad's family, as Brad was there for his brother Colin's wedding. Everyone was there, and it was crazy. Loud, obnoxious, and crazy! I'm pretty sure we tried to pack in way too much and the kids were tired and over-sugared. Needless to say, they are not eating much in the way of sugar here at home!

It was a great time seeing the family, though. Here are some kids playing with bubbles.

At one point, Brad took Leiden on a hike, and she was not happy. Brad says this picture was indicative of the whole trip.

Then, of course, the big day! Pictures after the sealing were tricky. Kids were hot (it was 100+ almost the entire time we were there), hungry, and tired, but we managed to snap a few of Mac.

Larger than life!

On one of the days we went boating, which was totally nerve wracking for me, but Leiden did fine. She freaks out in the water, so I was worried about how it would work out. Mac stayed landbound with me.

On the way home, we were all tired. Poor Brad is the only one who managed to stay awake. I think.

Another major activity was going to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. Leiden was thrilled at the opportunity to go inside a temple. She thought it was beautiful.

Since November, Leiden has wanted to ride the ponies at Garner village, so we figured amidst the over packing of our days, we'd slip it in. Again, note the bright pink faces, as they rode around in 100 degrees.

Mac thought it was great, and threw a fit when Brad took her off the pony!

Last, but not least of the giant activities was Lagoon, where Leiden had a great time going on rides I thought she would hate!

I think all the kids had fun!

Mac didn't have much to do at Lagoon. I couldn't go on many rides due to being pregnant, so she was stuck with me most of the time.

And then we came home, to relearn all kinds of things!

We also had the brief opportunity to celebrate my Dad's birthday while we were there--kid free, thanks to Grandma!

It was a great trip, and I'm sure the next time we get together it will be just as crazy!