Why I Love My Garden

I am obsessed. Everyday I check each flower to see how it is blooming. My neighbor helped me pick out all the flowers. Some of them I don't even remember what they are suppose to look like when they bloom. It makes the day when there is finally flowers even more exciting. The flowers at the top first bloom red then change to orange and then after it has been out longer turns yellow. The picture on the bottom is a painted daisy my very favorite flower. This was suppose to be orange but I have one section that is coming out yellow. Look at the flower that is half yellow and half orange. I think it is amazing enough that it deserved a picture on the blog.

Little Fish

The girls had swimming lessons last week. First day Leah was just a natural doing anything her teacher told her. Eva took a few days to warm up. In fact I couldn't even get her to stay in the pool Monday. But thanks to a great teacher Sara ,by Friday Eva did everything to pass off her level. I was really proud of her for blowing bubbles and putting her face under the water. Leah was especially amazing at picking up the rings off the bottom of the pool and she is getting the basics down to begin swimming. Anyone looking for a great place for lessons call North Davis Gymnastics. They are a private 20 minute lesson for not much more than a group class.

Kid Quotes from the last year

The girls were jumping onto the bean bags today. They had created names for each of their moves. Some of my favorites; back buster, fur ball, and the flying somersault

Leah thinks she should tell me about commercials she sees for household items. Today she gave me the low down on a vacuum for your kitchen floor that you don't even have to plug in. She thinks I would really love it but she doesn't know how much money it is.

Ronan pointed at a plate full of oranges and said, "orange" plain as day. I cant get him to repeat it so no one believes me.

Trying to get Leah to eat a chicken nugget at my friends house the other night. She kept crying and crying she just couldn't eat it because it tasted like dirt.

Leah asked as we were getting ready for church, "Is it a fast Sunday or a slow Sunday."

Eva asked Grandpa Tom for some milk. He asked what is the magic word. She responded abracadabra moving both hands like magic wands.

Come on girls I yelled impatiently. Mom were coming we are little girls with little feet responded Eva.

Anytime I say Eva stop being ornery. She responds I am not... ornery I am Eva. Ok then don't be an ornery Eva.

Imagine this.. Leah and I talking to her class at school. She says one of my favorite things to do is... She turns around and says, "pineapple underpants, pineapple underpants." While shaking her bum. I laughed too hard to be embarrassed. Now since it got such a good reaction Eva and Leah do it all the time and think they are hilarious.

The kids and I walked a long ways while getting tires put on the van. Leah finally stopped and said, "mom my legs are all out of breath, their exhausted."

Leah overheard me talking to Davy about going out for steak. "What mistake did Daddy make" she kept insisting I tell her what he did.

Ronan can now say a few words. My favorite is waving and saying Hiiiii. He also says mama and dada. Oh and he does a great lion roar.

Leah was trying to measure how tall Eva had gotten and drew all over the walls with crayon. When she came to apologize to me she said I am so glad your my mommy. It was so sweet how could I stay mad.

Eva has her first kiss tonight. The Roylances were over to dinner and they have a son Ethan. He and Eva went up to our bedroom. When they came down he pointed and said she kissed me. I said Leah did you kiss Ethan? Eva raised her hand all proud and said I did.

This house rocks. That is what Leah kept saying over and over again yesterday. She watches way to much TV.

Ever since I told Leah that people go to the hospital to have babies she doesn't want to get married. For some reason she is certain that if you get married that means you have to go to the hospital because you will have a baby. I cannot reason with her she will not change her mind on it. No matter how many times I tell her that not everyone that is married has kids.

It is not really something Ronan can say but he learned to clap this week. He loves to eat and claps on command the whole time I am feeding him. I just cannot get enough of it.

Leah was falling asleep on the top bunk when suddenly she was pounded on the head with a hurly stick. Eva had gone into my room took it from under the bed. Climbed the ladder to the top bunk. All to pound Leah on the head. When it was taken away she said that she needed her knife to fight the bad guys.

Leah went to the Packs Pumpkin Patch for a field trip. The owner read the kids a story and asked Leah to be his assistant. She was just suppose to hold a little pumpkin. I am sure he regret ed that. She thought she was part of the presentation and had a comment for everything. Including my favorite color is pink and purple. I think that pumpkin looks like a lemon. The other parents and I were dying of laughter.

Eva told us she was going on a trip. Where to we asked? Outer space she replied.

We were taking flowers to Grandma Flo the other day. Leah said that she was so hungry if we didn't take her to get food that she would eat a whole flower. Then she make an eating sound effect, gluppp.

When Eva gets hurt she makes me kiss exactly where the pain is. If I don't get the spot I have to try again and again to get her to stop crying. This is cute when it is her arm or face. Not so cute when it is on her dirty feet.

The number of times we have cleaned poop off the walls in Eva's room after her naps this week, 5

Leah asked heavenly father for a good imagination in her prayers the other night, I thought don't worry sweet heart your already got it.

Leah says to my mom in the morning, old people have a hard time sleeping sometimes

Davy here: Eva told me the other day that baby Ronan punched her in the neck. I better stop using that expression.

Leah told Davy when he was getting mad at her. Dad that is not logical, she used it correctly for the situation. What does logical mean Leah he said. It means something doesn't make sense she commented back.

Eva really likes that taste of medicine. When I was giving Ronan a dose she wanted some. I sick she said, fake cough, fake cough, see.

No Karla

When my sister Karla came to visit she stayed at our house for a few days. It was a lot of fun. Karla used "Leahs" bathroom for all her stuff and lets just say Leah was a little bothered by Karla taking over "her" bathroom. Leah felt Karla was a little messy in "her" bathroom so when Karla went out for the day Leah would clean up and arrange the bathroom as she saw fit. Even the toothbrush and toothpaste were placed neatly together in their own space.

Karla went up to my moms house for a few days and then came back to stay with us some more.

When they were on their way back Leah started making a little card. I thought it was to welcome them back. She asked me how to spell Karla and how to spell no. I didn't think anything of it until I noticed Leah taping her creation to the front door. The picture, if you cannot tell, is Karla holding Jake and in big spelled out letters is the words "NO NO KARLA." She didn't want Aunty Karla back in the house and into "her" bathroom.

I asked her why she was so rude and didn't want Karla back. She said because Karla and baby Jake were sick and would get her, Ronan and Eva sick also. She was ousting Karla and Jake from the house for the greater good of her family...

The Big Graduate

Leah graduated from preschool. This was about a month ago I know I am late in posting. But the story is worth the embarrassingly late post.

Look how well behaved Leah looks during the graduation program. The class began to chant their abc rhymes. Leah's teacher Tami had taught them these really cute chants to remember their letters and sounds. For example, a says ah ah ah like apple. B says ba ba ba like balloon. They didn't get three letters in to the alphabet when Leah decided that each letter needs a sound effect and a action after it. c say ca ca ca like cat, Leah meows and shows whiskers on her face. It continued for each and every letter in the alphabet. The best was for Q like Queen Leah says," dadadaaaa," and puts a pretend crown on her head.

All the parents were half laughing half annoyed with my overacting child. I just laughed. Luckily I have the whole thing on video. I have the whole thing on video and will post it soon. After the program I asked Tami if Leah does sound effects in class when they do the letters. She told me only when someone visits class or when there is a huge crowd of parents and video cameras.

Is This a Talent?

Apple art you can call it. I also do shapes. Dad is not longer allowed to cut apples because he is not as talented as I.

This is the Place Park

This is the Place Park is my very favorite place to take the kids. There is all their favorite things. A petting zoo, horse rides, train ride, and a cute play area with pretend houses. I guess we need a farm in the country. Then Leah could live out her dream of being a farmer when she grows up. It really feels like you are in a different world. Everything is peaceful, quiet and just beautiful.


After spending 5 minutes petting this horse the lady working near by tells me he has been acting strange and jumpy that day and she wouldn't let her kids be by themselves next to him. Why didn't you tell me that 5 minutes ago I thought.

They had over 100 little baby chicks that the kids got to hold. Ronan obviously not a fan of animals yet didn't like it.

Eva was very brave and held it all by herself. Leah was fine to pet it but got a little nervous when she was holding the chick and jumped back.

The pretend wooden train is so cute I want one in my yard. Ronan stood by this steering wheel the whole time we were at the park.

My cute girls just got done eating cookies. One note to myself and anyone else that goes to visit. Food is a bit pricey but there are lots of good picnic spots.

The ladies working there said the girls were naturals. I told them it was probably because they are obsessed with horses and ride each others backs all the time.

Ronan was not happy with us for putting him on this horses back. He lasted one time around

The "keycock" as Leah calls it in the petting zoo

Karla and Baby Jake Visit

My sister Karla and her baby Jake got to visit from Fairbanks Alaska. Usually we end up at home all the time with the kids. But this trip we ended up having lots of fun. We went to a Real Soccer game. Down to the Park City Outlets where we found the most amazing deals. It was kinda torturous until we got home and realized all the cute stuff we got. My mom watched the kids while Dave, Karla and I went to see Baby Mama. Which I highly recommend it was hilarious. We also all went to This is the Place Park. More pictures to come.

The boys were hilarious together. Ronan taught Jake all sorts of bad tricks like how to stand up in the bathtub.

Leah and Eva love baby Jake. He is the most social baby and laughs at whatever they do. Definitely an easy baby to love.

Ronan just had to sit up next to Jake. Oh and he now loves to sit at the table like a big kid. Only problem is he still makes a mess like a baby and drives me crazy throwing his food of his highchair because he want to be at the table with the girls.

Dave and Rachel Date Night

Dave and I hiked in Bountiful on Friday. The trail we took is across from the temple I have no idea what its name is. I wanted to take a picture of Dave. He says 1 minute as he finds a large tree branch that had just happen to be next to the path.

The river was really high. I was going for a scared face but it looks more like I am planning on eating the waterfall.

Ok now I really wish you all could have been here for this. I had tears streaming down my face watching Davy crossing this crazy bridge. I have done this hike many times but the water is usually not so high. Still me with my girl balance runs across the rotting logs. 10 minutes later Davy makes it over. There was a few times he had to stop and pep himself up to keep going. Really this move right here made the whole crossing a lot harder than it should have been. Just stand up and walk fast right, no instead Davy crawled across the log.

At this point he really did totally lose his balance and catch himself just in time. We probably wont be taking this hike the next time we go out.

5 Thoughts About Eva

She was getting ready for playgroup last week and decided she needed to wear her super girl costume. The other girls all wear princess dresses which she will not put on. The whole girly girl thing skipped my children so far. Eva would much rather play with her horses than a doll. Although I have good news for all of you who were worried about her compassion for babies. She has decided that she likes Ronan. And no longer "hates babies." I did catch her playing with a doll last week. Ronan fell and hit his head today and she ran over to him and gave him a hug and kiss on his noggin.

This shot was one of about 10. Eva put the glasses on and asked that I take a picture. After each one she would ask to see it. She kept trying to come up with different faces but they all consisted of her with her tongue out. My model in the making.

She could do any art project for long long periods of time. We went through a coloring and painting rock phase. Wherever we are she is looking for just the right rock. I had to hide the markers because she was covered and my couch from rock coloring. So now we are just painting rocks which at least has to stay at the table.

Did all of you know that Eva can fall asleep anywhere. I have got about 15 pictures of her falling asleep in the funniest places. I actually think their is a post from a long time ago with various sleeping pictures. I hate for her to take a nap because she is such a deep sleeper that I cant wake her up. I can hang her upside down, tickle, offer treats, none of it works to wake her up. She will keep her eyes closed and body limp. Anyway after a 2-3 hour nap she wont go to bed until 10pm.


Eva is the most loving and affectionate kids. She is always ready for a cuddle or hug. I just adore her and have a hard time getting mad at her. Everything is done in this very impish sneaky way. If she is sneaking something she will tip toe around and flash a huge smile at me. Then if she spills something she cleans it up herself and says sorry mommy right away. I am such a lucky mommy or so I try to tell my self and she stands next to me saying, "I am not sleepy mommy lets me and you stay up (and a little kiss on my arm).