Play Group Hike

We have a play group with some moms and kids in our neighborhood. We get together for a fun activity every other Wednesday. We LOVE playgroup days. We always do something fun and Brie is always excited to "see all her friends".

This week we went "hiking" with playgroup. We went to Silver Lake and walked around the whole lake. There was a lot of looking for fish and ducks and squirrels, playing with dirt, climbing rocks, running, walking backwards, walking VERY slowly and having to catch up, stick sword fights, etc. It was a fun day. We had a picnic afterward and the girls slept all the way back down the mountain!!

Brie and Emma "hiking backward". That took awhile. Don't these girls look alike?
The girls looking for ducks and fish.Not sure what was so interesting on the ground, but this was the best shot we got.Brie and Emma - best friends forever!The kiddos watching the mamma duck and baby ducks.

Pioneer Day

(I'm catching up with pictures I just loaded to the computer.)

Pioneer Day was July 24. We had a good one. Scott had to work although it is a Utah holiday and many people had the day off. I decided to take the girls to the Pioneer Day parade downtown. We got there 5 minutes before it started, got a great spot to park, perfect spot to set out our blanket and watched a really good parade. The family close to us even had Brie come sit up front with their kids. She EVEN got a pink cushion to sit on. She had a ring pop and was LOVING it! Ava kept crawling all over the place so I kept chasing.The Pipers!

For Krista!Of course, Brie's favorite part of any parade - the princesses!After the parade Brie wanted to go see the temple. That sounded good to me and quite appropriate on Pioneer Day. We walked to Temple Square and did our usual: walk along the reflecting pool (Brie dipped her toes in this time), visit the Visitor's Center, look at the flowers and then go to the Lion House for Jello.At night there were fireworks all over town, so Scott went out to buy a small package for us too. We lit them and we had a great show!

More From The Princess

The princess obsession continues at our house. The love is actually just growing stronger. Here are a few more of the comments made by Princess Brie lately.

* Scott came downstairs dressed in his kilt. He was wearing it to a wedding. Brielle said, "Daddy, you look so pretty. You look like a princess."

*Brie's cousin Aiden was here playing one day. Brielle took him by the hand and tried walking with him and said, "We are walking together to the land of our dreams." Aiden didn't want to go.

* Brielle watches a Disney Princesses Sing Along movie that she LOVES (I love it because it is not as long as or have the scary parts like the actual movies). Brie sits with her princesses lined up as she watches. As each princess sings her song from her movie, Brie holds up the princess and says, "Look Belle, that is you. That's you singing." *One evening I was cleaning up the kitchen and Scott and Brie were playing in the other room. Scott said that he leaned over to Brie and told her he had a secret for her. He whispered in her ear, "I love you!". She had a secret for him. She leaned over and whispered in his ear, "I love Cinderella!".

*When we put Brie to bed at night we usually read a book, say a prayer and then sing a song before we leave. I usually try to sing a primary song. She keeps telling me no and tells me to sing Ariel's song. Sooooooooooo, I have been singing "Look at this stuff. Isn't it neat. Wouldn't you think my collection's complete. Wouldn't ya think I'm the girl, the girl who has everything . . . . "*One day I told Brie to put her shirt down. She told me that Jasmine sticks her stomach out (so it must be ok). I told her that we don't stick our stomachs out. She told me that Kea (her cousin that wore a tankini a little too small for her) sticks her stomach out. She decided Kea and Jasmine could stick their stomachs out.

*Brie was crying and Scott told her that princesses don't cry. So she stopped. Awhile later we were driving somewhere and she said, "Daddy. Cinderella cries. Remember. She cried when the mean sisters ruined her dress." She's right. I guess princesses do cry.*At the beginning of potty training, Brie would check out what she had done in the toilet. She would say, "My poop is brown. It's just like Belle's hair!!" She really was SO excited.

*She dresses up as a princess EVERY DAY from morning until night. Recently my mom came and brought this paper castle to put on the wall. Brie told me she was a "Snow Princess" and sat in front of the castle so that I could come meet her.*She ALWAYS wants to dance and sing like a princess. If I ask her to do anything she says, "Wait mom. I just need to dance a little more." She dances around the kitchen and I have to hum or sing the music. It kills me every time to see how serious she gets into it. Hilarious!

Ava

Ava is all over the place!! And she is constantly cracking me up! One minute I absolutely adore the girl and the next I am annoyed because she is all of a sudden standing in her stroller or high chair and won't sit down!

I am surprised once again at how quickly a baby grows up and learns new things. I mean, I saw all of this happen less than 2 years ago with Brie. I'm also surprised at how it is all still so exciting and fun and impressive. Here are some of Ava's newest tricks!

She has started saying a few words. Ava can now say "Da da", "Hi", "No, no", and "Ma ma". Whenever she gets a phone or a remote control in her hands it immediately goes to her ear and she says, "Hi. . . . Hi. . . . Hi. . . ."

Ava can now go up AND DOWN the stairs!! YAHOO!!! You have no idea how thrilled I am about this one. We have a lot of stairs. I was worried about how to gate all of them or how to protect her from falling down them. We never did gate them. I just watched her closely until I was able to teach her the going down part. She learned quick and now crawls all over the house no problem. We came out of this without her ever face diving down the stairs!

Ava is giving kisses and they are big, wet, sloppy, open mouthed, with tongue and with a loud "Ahhhhhh!" to go with it. Every time she goes to bed she gives Brie a big kiss. Brie's not liking all the slobber so much. She attacks me with kisses. It makes me laugh so hard. She grips onto both sides of my face or holds on tight to my hair, opens her mouth big and latches on to my cheek or chin and won't give up. Ouch!

This trick is an old favorite. I think she was doing this even before waving or clapping. She LOVES it. Ava pulls this out for any occasion and is so proud that she can do it. And she does it a lot!

I am also LOVING that Ava can play with Brie now. They are (usually) able to play so well together. Ava is interested in Brie's toys, is captivated by Brie running and jumping and loves to "play" with her by chasing her around the house. It doesn't last long (before Brie takes all the toys from her), but while it lasts, it is great!

Hike to Cecret Lake

This weekend our hike was to Cecret Lake. It was THE PERFECT time to go. This part of the canyon had just opened that day and the wildflowers were blooming. It was so pretty. We had a good time hiking up with both kids riding on us again. It was too steep and rocky for Brie to go up on her own, but she hiked the whole 1 mile down all by herself. Pretty good for a 2 year old. The lake was beautiful and perfect for throwing rocks (and snowballs) into. We sat and had a snack and then headed back down the mountain for a real picnic. Good times. I am SO GLAD we live so close to such beautiful mountains.

Wildflowers!
When Brie doesn't smile, Scott tells her to smile like a princess. This always works. This is what we get.
Brie hiked with her backpack "full of snacks to share" just like Daddy.Brie held up this tree so that we could pass by on the trail. Amazing!
We made it to Cecret Lake! Yahoo!I had been begging to go camping last weekend. Seeing Ava like this made me decide to wait until I don't have a crawling baby that puts EVERYTHING in her mouth.Our picnic at the bottom in Albion Basin.

Mary's In The Buff?

Guess who has three day weekends now? Scott. Yahoo! On Friday morning we left early with the girls and went up the canyon. We started with a good breakfast at one of our favorite places to eat. It's just gorgeous to sit out on the deck and overlook the beautiful mountains. Here is Scott and the girls after breakfast. We were all ready to get hiking! We hiked to Mary's Lake. We chose this hike because it was a somewhat short one (1 mile) and we thought Brie could do some of it. Nope. It was way to steep. She was done just a few yards into it. So, Brie rode in the back pack and Ava rode in the Bjorn. We were hiking up steep rocks (some of it through a river) with children attached to us. The hike was nice and very pretty and getting to Mary's Lake was well worth it.Ava was sound asleep in the Bjorn on the way down.Brie stopped to smell the flowers. Gorgeous, no?We made it to the top. We found Mary's lake and it was beautiful. Scott and Brie threw rocks into the lake and Ava attempted rock climbing.Brie kept saying "It's too sunny!". Can you tell?We told Brie that we were hiking to Mary's Lake. She kept asking if we would find Baby Jesus there. When we got there we did not find Baby Jesus, but we did find a group of people that had stripped down to nothing and were swimming (even though it is watershed). Scott mentioned that there were people swimming in the buff. Brie then kept asking: Where is Mary? Is Mary in the buff?

Scott took this picture to show the skinny dippers in the background. Thankfully, YOU can't see much, but WE sure saw it all.

Draggin' Main St.

Brie, Ava and I went downtown to meet Sarah, Aiden and Anne at Radio Disney's children's event. The event was a little old for our kiddos, who don't know much about "High School Musical" and "Hannah Montana". They did get to watch the fireman spray their hoses for the kids to run through and all Brie needed to make it a perfect day was to get to stand by a cut out of Snow White. Look at her expression compared to Aiden's. Hilarious.We ate lunch with Landon, who works right downtown where we were. I walked back with him to his building to get money to pay for parking and he whipped out an all day parking validation!! Yahoo!! So, I decided not to head home, but to enjoy every minute of our free parking downtown. Thank you Landon.

We started on a walk down Main St. and stopped at good ole' McKay jewelers to get my ring cleaned. We then came upon Temple Square and had a very nice time there. Brie walked around the reflecting pool, we looked at flowers, talked about the temple, listened to the organ being played in the tabernacle, saw missionaries and went wandering through the Visitor's Center.

Ready. Set. JUMP!We walked up the long ramp to see the statue of Christ in the Visitor's Center. Brie was amazed that the room looked like the night time sky. She was especially amazed by the statue. She went right up to it , under the ropes and stared. Later, when it was time to go home, she made us go back up the ramp to say "Bye to Jesus" before we could leave.We got delicious Lion House rolls and honey butter for a snack and then walked along Main St. back to our car. It was a fun day with the girls.