Pioneer Day

Today we went to my parents Stake Pioneer day. There is a large park area behind one of the ward buildings. We started with a pancake breakfast, then had a parade and lots of activities. Here are a few highlights of the morning. We did not know about the activity until the day before so our girls did not have costumes. Grandpa decided that they could be Indians instead of pioneers. Emma had a green leafy tree branch in her hair.
Here is Emma making a cowgirl scarf. She was thrilled with the idea of having anything that would make her into a real cowgirl.
Here we are at Emma's favorite station, the donut station. She got to form her own donut, fry it and then shake it in a brown paper bag with some sugar in it. They were tasty!
Here is Indian Abby making a pinwheel. I actually had to make it for her but she had lots of fun blowing it.
The last thing we did was make wind socks. Emma was a pro since she had made one before in preschool. She had lots of fun and we came home with fun crafts and full bellies and that is pretty much my definition of a great day.

A Day at the Beach (the real one)

We got to California Thursday morning (after our flight being cancelled Wednesday night, our girls were really upset) and the next day we were at the beach. Before we got here if you asked Emma why we were going to California she would say "To go to the BEACH!...and see Grandma and Grandpa. Abby liked the water. She was just a little hesitant but then she realized that the water felt good. She would run down into the water and run away when a big wave came. She did have a few wipe outs but she ended up having a great time.

As you can tell from this picture Emma loves the beach. From the time she was tiny she was happiest in the water. This year was the first time that we did not have to hold her hand constantly in the water. She could keep herself up for the most part and when she did get knocked down she hopped right back up.

A close second to playing the the water is playing in the sand. Grandpa had a good time building sand castles with his grand girls.
Towards the end of the day we were playing in the sand and Emma wanted to be buried in the sand. She thought that it was pretty fun until we buried her up to her chest and she got sand in her eyes.
I even got into the spirit of things and let Trevor bury me. Sand is heavier than I remember it being as a kid! We had a great day at the beach. I am sure that before our trip is over we will be back.

We Love L.A

We got to California on Thursday morning and that night Trevor and I went to a Dodger game with my dad and sister. We had great seats along the third base line at field level. I tend to get really bored after about the fifth inning but there was so many runs that I actually made it through the whole game. We had a good time even though the Dodgers lost 13-9. I grew up an Angel fan anyway!

Hayden Lake

One of our favorite things about North Idaho is the lake. Trevor's parents live right neat the dock and the girls love to jump off into the freezing water. The weather was so warm while we were there that I even got in. They also love to go to the local "beach" (I have a hard time calling it that) and play in the sand and water there.
Here is Emma digging in the sand. She wanted to make a gaint hole to sit in. She worked really hard but the hole never seemed to get any bigger.
I was amazed by how much Abby loved the lake. I thought that she would stick one toe in, feel how cold it was and head in the opposite direction. It turned out that she really enjoyed it. She would swim around and then come warm up on the sand.

Abby with her new way to smile. Lately we can not get her to smile with her eyes open. Trevor use to do the same thing when he was young.
My two beauties. Notice the beautiful tree covered mountains in the background. The picture does not even do it justice.

Visit with Maddi

This week we were lucky enough to have a visit from one of our friends from Provo. Emma and Maddi spent a lot of time together as babies and they must have had similar parents because they are so much alike! They picked right back up where they left off.

Here is a picture of the girls with their mouths full of gum from a giant gumball. Maddi's mom Kandi got one for each of the girls. You can tell how excited Emma is. She rarely gets gum and my reasoning for that was reconfirmed when three minutes into the car ride home I heard "I can't find my gum!" We should have stopped the car right then and conducted a search but we were lazy and waited 30 minutes until we got home. Of course by then it was ground into Abby's car seat and we spent the rest of the evening after we put the girls to bed de-gumming the seat. I think it will be a while before Emma get gum again, but she sure enjoyed the moment.
This is the girls waiting patiently for dinner. It was a pretty long wait and they did great. Between the three of them they ate the entire basket of chips and Abby even liked the salsa.
Emma and Maddi both love to "read." Here is Maddi reading to Emma after a long afternoon in the sun. Both girls needed a rest and their moms were happy to see them entertaining each other.



Here are the girls after dinner riding a ice cream truck. It was a snug fit but we managed to get all three girls on one ride.

Can I Look at Myself in the Mirror?!?

One of the many perks of visiting our family is that Trevor's sister is a cosmetologist and we get great hair cuts. Abby got her first cut ever and she looks so grown up. Emma's cousin Brinley has a cute bob hair cut that inspired Emma. All that she could say when it was done was can I look at myself in the mirror again? We are still working on getting a good picture of the girls together but they have been spending so much time in the lake that it is hard to get pictures of their hair dry. Stay tuned for more pictures and I am getting mine cut soon too!

Picture Time

What family reunion would be complete without pictures. I will upload the entire family picture(all 102 of us and there were some missing) when I get it but I thought that these were fun.

Talented Grandma

Trevor's mom made each of her grandkids outfits to wear to church today. They were all made out of the same kind of fabric, just different colors and patterns. The girls were so excited to wear them. After church we took some pictures outside.
Abby looks so pretty in purple! She would not take the dress off all day long and I had to promise her that she would get to wear it again later to get her to take it off for bedtime.
My two beauties! Thanks to Grandma Griffitts for the great dresses.

Queen of the slip and slide

Trevor's aunt and uncle have an awesome backyard, including a giant hill that gets transformed into a slip and slide for the family reunion. I was not sure if Emma was old enough for it but she soon proved to be very adventurous. It did not take long before she was sliding down on her tummy like the big kids.
This is Emma at the bottom of the slide. By the end of the day it was a muddy pool that was almost as fun as the slide itself.
Going down the conventional way. This picture does a pretty good job of showing the steepness of the hill. You can really pick up some speed!
Emma at the top. She is in the middle of a running start to get some speed to slide down on her tummy.
This picture only shows about half of the length of the slide. I am not sure how many times Emma went down the slide but she was on it for about three hours. By the end of the day she was having a hard time climbing back up the hill but that did not stop her. When I asked her if she wanted to take a break she said "NO WAY! This is too much fun!

4th of July Fun

Here are the girls with thier cousin Ava Belle at the 4th of July parade. Notice the pink cheeks it was a really hot day! Here are the girls again with their cousin Payson waiting to leave for the parade. What a cute trio when they are not causing trouble together.
Here is Emma having the time of her life with a giant sparkler. It took a few reminders to get her to stop waving it at me and then she had a blast!
Abby and Grandma.
Me and the girls waiting for the fireworks to start. Emma loved them and when they were done she said "I watched the whole thing and did not even cover my ears. Abby on the other hand heard the first bang put her head into my shoulder and fell asleep. We have had a great 4th and hope that you all did too.

Golfing Beauties

We decided to take the girls golfing. The weather was beautiful and the girls had a great time. Emma is a great putter and Abby has a strong swing like her daddy. We really enjoyed the time together as a family.

T-Ball

The summer the girls have been playing T-ball with some other kids in the neighborhood. Abby is really not interested and you can usually find her on the swing, while Emma loves it as long as she gets to hit and not catch. It has been lots of fun to be outside in the sun with our friends.

Trying again

We are on vacation and actually have access to computers with an internet connection that works so we are going to try to start up our blog. We are having a great time in Coeur d'Alene enjoying family and beautiful weather. Yesterday we visited my sister down in Clarkston WA and the girls had a great time at the water park and playing with the dogs Lucky and Chloe.