Visit to Albuquerque

A couple of weeks ago, Lucy, Jenna and I got to go see my sister's family in Albuquereque, and meet our newest cousin/niece, Kaitlyn. It was so much fun and the girls were great travelers. We wish we could live closer to all of our family, but it makes the visits that much sweeter and more precious when we go. Here are just some of our many fun moments in New Mexico.

Jenna got her own seat on the airplane (a first) and she made sure that her bear got to look out the window.

Jenna loves her cousins backyard. It has a great swingset and so many fun things to play with, not to mention fun people to play with too!
Jenna isn't quite ready to fly like Mikayla in the background.

We also took the train to Santa Fe. Here is everyone waiting for the train to come.

Riding the train

Me and Lucy

This is little baby Kaitlyn. She already has more hair than Lucy. I took more pictures of her, but I'll post those separately.

Lucy took cue from Kaitlyn and decided that the train was a great place to sleep.

The train

Mikayla and Tyler running down the tracks- good thing this was the end of the track!

Ready to explore Santa Fe.

I love the adobe buildings here. You can really see that Mexican influence everywhere you look in Santa Fe.

One day I did Audrey's hair like Jenna's. They both wore striped shirts and were little twins.

And of course when Mikayla came home, she wanted in on the action. She told Jeremy that doing hair like this was one of my best talents.

I also got to spend a lot of quality time with my sister. She is such an amazing person and the best sister. I always look forward to the time I can spend with her and learn from her great example. I love you Rebecca! She also took me to this excellent restaraunt, the Flying Star, which totally earned her five more gold stars in my book. Good food + good company= good time!

I also taught the kids a new song while I was there - Aroostashaw (I have no idea how it's spelled- c'mon it was a girl's camp song!) They looooved it. So did Jeremy, but he tried to not let me catch him on camera. Here's the end of this silly song...

Gonda family, we had so much fun seeing you guys. We love you and can't wait to see you guys again soon!

A Five Minute Concert

Jenna loves to sing. LOVES. She's getting pretty good- for a two year old at least. She definitely has the attention span of a two year old. I think it is so cute and hilarious, I had to share. There are six (very short) videos. The repertoire-

1.I Am A Child of God

2.I Love to See The Temple (although she doesn't seem to sure of that when she starts)

3. I Am a Child of God- it's on here twice b/c I thought it was amazing how she could break her concentration to tell Lucy to drink her bottle and pick up right where she left off on this take.

4.Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

5. I've Been Working On the Railroad (hil.ar.i.ous.)

6. I Love Lucy

I can't lie- I think she's even better in person. My sister was saying the other day that Jenna's middle name suits her- it's Melelani, which means "song of heaven" or "heavenly song". What do you think?

Desperate Attempt...

...to catch up! I am going to do my best to bring this blog to current in the next few days, so be looking for a lot of new posts. Here is a whirlwind of just some of the things that have been happening lately!

One Sunday evening we went to the visitor's center on Temple Square. Jenna kept pointing at all the pictures saying, "Jesus loves them!" Notice how she's crouching at the end of the video and then yells, "Jesus!" She just spotted the Christus statue. She. was. excited.

Last month my brother also came to visit for a week. We got to do lots of fun things, including go to the aquarium. Thanks for visiting, Uncle Brian! We love you!

The same week my brother visited, Dan's cousin came home from her mission. Her name is also Jenna. Everytime our Jenna looks at this picture, she'll point to herself and Dan's cousin and say, "Two Jennas!"

There is also a park that pretty much backs our house that we go to frequently. Last month Lucy experienced her first ride in one of the swings.

We've had some really great days here that are nice and warm. I take advantage of the fantastic back yard and lay out a blanket for us to get some fresh air and some sun!



Jenna has this fantastic song that she will sing about anything. It pretty much says,
"I love (insert thing), yes I do" over and over. On our first venture into our backyard, she sang it to our trees. It took a little prompting for her to do it again in front of the camera, but it was so cute!

That's it for now, but be prepared for many more to come!

We are raising a Democrat...

See how she supports Obama in the State of the Union Address? Jenna actually stood and clapped several times... uh-oh. We better avoid politics at family dinners.

Lucy

I am desperately trying to play catch up! These are from January of Lucy sitting up. She's not very good at it, but what a valiant effort! We love our little Lucy!
More to come...

Baby bright eyes!

I can do it!

That's right. She spit up and immediately face planted in it. Yum.


The boppy helps her sit.


Our spit up queen greets you by burping and launching some. Don't you love how when she sits up on her arms, she looks like one of those "big-head, little body" things?

A Bargain Worth Blogging About

You don't have to read this if you don't want to hear me brag- because that is what I'm totally doing. Those of you who know me well know that I enjoy shopping. Dan is kind enough to put up with me going every once in a while, probably because I am also INCREDIBLY cheap. I'm one of those girls that likes to brag about how inexpensive something was, as opposed to how much something cost. Hence this post.

Now, I love Ross Dress for Less, because you can always get a great deal. This was probably one of the best I've ever come across.

First up, is this cute little pairing for a 9 month old (aka, Lucy soon)

Had I bought it at Carters for full price...

I got it for...



































Boo ya! Fity cent.


Next, I found this sweet little party dress for a 3 year old (aka Jenna, not super soon, but soon enough)


Had I bought it at Macy's for full price...
I got it for...


















































Bam! Buck fity.



That's like a savings of like 97.something percent! Can you imagine ever walking into Macy's or Carter's and seeing a sign that says 97% off? Oh Ross, how I love thee.

Jenna's Photography

Jenna loves to play with our camera. Okay, okay, we're usually kind of scared that she'll break it, but it is so darn cute when she holds it up and says, "Cheese... click... good one." These pictures were taken completely by Jenna with no ones help- some of them are pretty good!

Are you ready for your close up, Uncle Brian?

I'm not sleeping, really. Although it does look like Dan has enough energy for the both of us!

Not quite centered... and yes, I'm in my pajamas and it's probably noon.

Feet!

Jenna's point of view