New York City

On our way home from Boston we stopped in New York. I could not pass up the opportunity to show Shayla the Big Apple. I don't know what it is about the place but I like it. Happy to be riding the subway again. We got to go on three different subways in a week. The girls were in heaven.
We ate at Mars 2112. Emma loved it and Abby...well she pretty much hated the whole experience. It started off all wrong. When you get to the restaurant you get on a space ship which sends you to Mars. It is kind of like Star Tours at Disneyland. It was dark and the chairs moved which was just way too much for Abby. It was all down hill from there. She would not eat the food or get off of Aunt Shayla's lap. She thought that she was eating alien food. Every time an alien would come out she would cry and she was convinced that we were going to have to get back on the space ship to get home, no matter how many times we told her that we were just going to walk out the front door. At least Emma had a good time.
The one bright spot of the trip for Abby was the arcade. With their dinner the girls each got a couple of free games. Abby cried all the way into the arcade but once she saw the games she decided that it would be alright after all. After we ate we headed up to Times Square. It was super busy and really windy but you have to experience it when you go to New York.
The ferry ride was great. It was nice to be able to sit outside and not freeze to death. It was a great day. We came home tired but glad we had such a great time.

I *Heart* Boston

This past week my sister and I took the girls to Boston. I took a ton of pictures so here are my favorites. We stayed with my Grandma. She has lived in Boston since she married my Grandpa and I think that she has lived in four houses but they are all within a mile of each other. When we got to her house Monday night she has gifts for the girls, books and stuffed animals. If my girls did not already love her they were hooked after the this.
Abby took to my Grandma right away and she was her little side kick the whole trip. I think that it had something to do with the sweets that my Grandma kept giving her. Abby takes after her mom and has a HUGE sweet tooth.
Our first day in Boston was beautiful. We went to the Public Garden to ride the swan boats. I grew up on the book Make Way for Ducklings and thanks to my Aunt Rachael my girls have also enjoyed the book so we had to ride the swan boats on the lake where Mr and Mrs Mallard swam and ate peanuts.

We also had to find the duckling statues. The girls had a great time sitting on the statues except when Abby tried to sit on Mrs. Mallards head and fell flat on her face. She had an instant bruise but she went back for more after a good cry.
After a full day in Boston which included wandering around the North End smelling the best looking Italian food ever and getting a tiny bit lost we headed back to Grandma's house where she spoiled us with attention and good food. Emma also had Aunt Shayla put curlers in her hair. She looked to cute with her curly hair.
The next day we went down to Plymouth. It was another beautiful day. We had a picnic on a bench right next to the bay and found a candy store where we bought Squirrel Nuts (a candy requested by my dad) The girls were a little bummed that there was no beach to play on but they did enjoy the sun and the freedom to run.
The girls love posing for pictures. They are standing in front of the Mayflower. We did not get to see Plymouth rock because they were working on the pavilion that covers it but the girls thought that the ship was cool.

This is Emma in front of the minute man on the Lexington green. I can't wait to bring her back in a few years when she will actually understand the history.
Since the girls were so sad about not being able to play on the beach in Plymouth we went over to the Arlington reservoir. There was lots of sand and the girls had a great time getting dirty making sand castles.
When I saw this pictures the first thing I thought was "Future Life Guard" She looks so at home up there.
After another fun day we headed back to Grandma's house where Grandma and Abby made us dinner.
I just thought this picture was cute. They were pretending to be dogs and Emma was the mother dog and she was taking care of her sick puppy. We all had a great time in Boston. It is such a fun, clean, wonderful city. I can't wait to get back for another visit soon.

Washington D.C

My sister Shalya is here for a visit. She has never been to the east coast before so we have been trying to show her as much as we can. Last weekend we got an AMAZING deal on a hotel in D.C so we headed down Friday afternoon and checked into our hotel. We had a great dinner and then Shayla watched our girls so that Trevor and I could go the the temple. The girls had a great time swimming at the pool and Trevor and I enjoyed a relaxing time at the temple. It was so nice to go and do a session and then be done. We had a good nights sleep and then spent the next day exploring D.C Posing in front of the Monument. The sun was so bright that the girls could not even look at the camera. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. I wore jeans and I was wishing the whole day that I had packed shorts. It was perfect. No humidity and not very many crowds.
Waiting for the subway. This is by far Abby's favorite part of any trip to a big city. She loves getting on the train and sitting by the window. She even likes to try to stand up and hold onto the poles. She has way more coordination and balance than her mom.
We went to the Air and Space Museum and I am pretty sure that Trevor had more fun than the girls. He has always wanted to be a pilot but as this picture demonstrates he is way too tall.
We did A LOT of walking and by the end Abby was done. Trevor was nice enough to carry her and I thought that this picture was too cute.
The girls at the Lincoln Memorial. I think that they were just happy to sit down. We had a great day in D.C and I can't wait to do it again. Thanks for visiting Shayla and giving us an excuse to go.

A visit from Grandma and Grandpa Griffitts

We were lucky enough to have a visit from Trevor's parents. They came out for Trevor's white coat ceremony and they were also here for Mother's day. It was so fun to spend time with them. They spoiled us with good food and even better company. When Grandma comes to visit she always brings some kind of fun craft to do with the girls. This time they made Easter rice krispie treats. They had to much fun decorating their Easter creations. They especially liked the icing the squirted out of the small tubes.
I just thought this one was cute. This was at the restaurant after the white coat ceremony.
I think that the girls had the most fun at the pool at Grandma and Grandpa's hotel. They are both little fish have so much fun in the water. They really enjoyed using the lifesavers hanging on the wall around the pool and seeing who could make the biggest splashes.The girls also both really love all the attention. Both Grandma and Grandpa are great story time partners although Grandpa usually will change the words and try to drive the girls crazy. We loved being able to spend time with family and our house is always open to anyone wanted to visit the east coast.

Mother's Day

I am very grateful for such a wonderful family. I have a terrific husband and two beautiful girls who make me glad to be a mom. We had a great Mother's day. Trevor did not have any early morning meetings at church which was a present in and of itself. We were able to hang out all morning and he was able to help me get the girls out the door on time to church. We even had time for a family picture before church.
Trevor also made me French bread. I really wanted bread with my dinner and we did not have any so he made French bread from scratch. It was delicious. I think that I may have to turn the bread making responsibilities over to him from now on.
For my present I asked for a charcoal grill. When Trevor went to buy it the lady at the store gave him a hard time saying that a grill was not a mother's day gift and that he should be able to wait until Father's day for his grill. Little did she know that I really wanted a grill. It made the chicken on our salads that night so much more tasty. Thanks to Trevor and his mom for the speedy assembly and to my wonderful family for a great day.

White Coat Ceremony

I am trying to catch up on my blog. We have had a lot going on and I get a little overwhelmed when I think about trying to post everything that we have been doing, so I figured I had better get started before I loose all ambition. Two Fridays ago we were able to attend Trevor's white coat ceremony. I was not sure what to expect, but it ended up being really nice. It was kind of like a graduation from class work, even though they will still have classes they will now be able to start seeing patients. The lighting was really bad in the hall so I did not get any good pictures of Trevor actually getting "coated" but his dad was able to coat him and it was really nice.
This is a picture of some of the guys in Trevor's class. We are so lucky to be here with so many great families. They have really made our time here so much more enjoyable and we are looking forward to the next two years.

A Trip to the Carnival

Yesterday Trevor took the girls to a carnival around the corner from our house. It has been there for about 2 weeks and every time we drive by (which is at least twice a day) we would hear "When are we going to the carnival???" This is Abby on the Ferris Wheel. You have to understand how much Trevor loves his girls to be willing to take them on the Ferris Wheel, especially one that looked 100 years old and was run by people with no teeth. As you can tell by Abby's face she loved it.
Emma liked it too. She used her money from the tooth fairy to be able to ride it and she said that it was worth it!
This is Abby on the dragon Roller coaster. She looks happy enough in the picture but I guess that after about three times around the track she started crying and wanted off.
Emma loved the roller coaster!!! She came home and said "I cracked up the WHOLE time!"
This is Emma on the motorcycle ride. When you pull back on the handle bars it makes the front wheels go up. She thought that was pretty fun. The girls had a great time and I am sure that there will be more requests to go to the carnival when it comes back next year.

My tooth was gone and I didn't even know it!

Emma is now missing all four of her front teeth. The funny thing is that she did not even know that she had lost tooth #4. She came home from school yesterday and said "Something happened to my mouth today at lunch when I was eating my apple." I looked in her mouth and her tooth was missing. I had her show Trevor and he told her to go look in the mirror. I wish that I had the video camera running to get her reaction because she really had no idea that her tooth was gone. When her shock wore off we were able to get a little more of the story. She bit into an apple at lunch and her mouth started to bleed. She thought that the blood was coming from the place where her new tooth was coming in. She thought that she had hurt her new tooth. When she realized that her tooth was missing she went and wrote a note to the tooth fairy explaining how her tooth got stuck in her apple and she did not even know it. Luckily the tooth fairy understood and still left a little something under her pillow.

We are back...did you miss us???

I know that you have been missing pictures like this. Our broken camera problem has been solved by a new camera...YEAH!!! Now if I can just learn how to work it a little better. Any way we have missed blogging so you can expect to hear lots from us as we try to make up for a month of nothing. This picture was taken the other night after the girls bath. They came down dressed like this and saying that they were "Super Spy's" Whatever they are they are cute!