Road-Trip Seattle: Day 1

We're here! We made it. And it feels so good :)

The kids are so sweet, constantly loving on our babies -- they're so adorable. Especially because Liam calls them Emmabelle and Manny!

Ahh - love. :)

Anyways. From the beginning:
We left early Thursday morning, and only stopping twice, got to Boise at 4:00! The girls were seriously such good little travelers. We went downtown Boise and had dinner with my cutest Asian grandma and Uncle Kris.
It was so fun seeing Great Grandma Minnie with her Great Grandbaby Annabelle! They loved each other.

And can you believe they're related?!

Uncle Kris took us out to dinner at this yummy Asian restaurant: Oriental Express. We had a great time visiting and catching up for lost time. Grandma's still loving her job as a hairdresser, and Kris is working for a computer company in the city.


I loved seeing my sweet grandma and uncle. And I'm so glad they could meet baby Annabelle. She's got Asian in her somewhere ;)

Hello Seattle!

(Love this song! It's silent at first; it starts after a couple seconds!)

Ahhhh! We're leaving so soon!
My sister Ashley Thay and I are road tripping to Seattle to visit Marie and her beautiful family, with our two babies on board! We're soo so excited, and {{kinda nervous}}. But mostly

excited!!!

Thursday at 8am we're heading to Boise, ID to spend the night with my Aunt Julie & co. and to visit my grandma Minnie! Then Friday morning we're driving the rest of the way to SEATTLE! ....love.... :)

I don't know how much I'll be updating my blog until I get home, so just know we're having the time of our lives and will for sure have lots of pictures to share! Annabelle will get her 6-month photoshoot by the one and only

Marie Photographie

-- best.thing.EVER!!!

I'm also so excited for Ashley to meet Marie and just become her sister too!

I've made our road trip mix (LOTS of Ally & AJ) ;)
I just made my mom's famous cinnamon rolls. Muddy Buddies. No-Bake Cookies. Trail Mix. Pita Pockets. String Cheese. Water.

Anything else?

I know Annabelle's gonna love meeting her sweet cousins (AHHH! I CAN'T WAIT!), but she's definitely gonna miss her papa:


Getting in some good snuggles before the long trip.

Thanks for letting us take this trip, babe! We'll miss you bunches.
Daily skype dates?

Ice Ice Baby!

To keep Annabelle entertained while I'm making dinner (or something) we've started giving her ice cubes. And not much cooking gets done, cause it's so funny to watch! (Also, sorry these videos are so long - you don't have to finish them!)

Messy Baby

Here's Annabelle in her new IKEA highchair eating oatmeal and looooving it! She's never gotten so messy while eating yet.

Lemon Time!

Annabelle wants to put everything in her mouth these days, and somehow a lemon got into her grasp.... ;)

Is that bad?

I mean, she eats rice cereal and oatmeal, a lemon's not too far off from those flavors... ;) Right?

We miss you, Cole!

I just found this video! It was back in January when Cole and Annabelle were just teeny things (well, Annabelle not so much.. haha!)
Their first bath together. To be continued in December 2011 ;)
((PS: It's not censored!!))

We miss you, sweet baby Cole!

Love you lots,

Annabelle.

Zions, Bandana Babies, and Canyoneering

A couple of weeks ago, we took a fun outdoors-y trip to Zions with Danny, Ashley, Maddy, and Drew. The first night there we all hiked to this pretty little (teeny tiny) waterfall. (We also saw deer just chillin' 3 feet away from us on the way up!)









The next day the boys headed out at 10am for their canyoneering adventure. I didn't know what canyoneering was either, and after hearing it was just like the movie 127 hours, I was 100% against it! (127 hours is about a guy that goes canyoneering (repelling down huge rocks into water) by himself in Moab, UT and gets stuck. For 127 hours. A huge boulder falls on his arm, and the only way for him to get out is to cut.it.off! True story!) Sounds chill, right?

NO! NO! NO!

The only comfort I found in the whole trip was that Drew (our little Deputy Sheriff ;) has been canyoneering TONS before, and he told us he wouldn't let the boys do anything they couldn't handle.
Well, here they are:



In the meantime, Ash and I hiked around with our babies, which was super fun and super tiring! (Those girls get heavy after a while!) We worried about the boys all.day.long! But they told us if they didn't get back by 7pm to call the Rangers (comforting, right?!) .... At least knowing the name of the canyon they were in, and knowing Rangers could go dig them out was a teeny bit comforting.






Ash and I got back to the hotel at 5pm, stressed until 6:30pm, and then searched the internet for the Ranger's number. We waited til 7pm. Still no one.

Ahhhhhh! 7pm was our "freak out" time.

Of course we're both imagining the worst! So we called. (Last time I called 911, I was 4 years old playing "house" with my cousin. Pretend emergencies count, right?) I was so nervous!!
Well, they sent out their Rangers to find their car, called back and said it was still at the end of the trail aka they hadn't left the canyon yet. THEY WERE STUCK!!!

Alright, so we all know they're alive and well. They walked through the hotel door 5 minutes later. Why did it take so long? Oh, because Drew was teaching two newbies, and one of the two got into little predicaments along the way..... ;) They had a blast!

It was a SUPER fun trip. We're excited to go back and hike the rest of the trails.
Also: The boys' newest "favorite" hobby: canyoneering. Thanks Drew :D

Sun-Girl and Scooter-Boy

We've had such beautiful weather here, that Annabelle's been wearing her sunhat pretty much everywhere we go. I can't help it - she looks adorable in it!
And since it's warmed up, we decided to get Jake a scooter, which is also adorable! (But since he's a manly-man, we'll call it cool) ;)
It's been really nice, now that Annabelle and I get to keep the car, while Jake's scootin' around town.
Here he is takin Drew for a sweet ride:

And here are some more adorable pictures of A in her sunhat:



Saturday night Jake and I got to ride up to American Fork for a little mini-date. We even stopped by Kohler's to grab a gallon of ice cream. Picture me riding on back, with a pail of ice cream over my shoulder. Cute, right? :)

Mother's Day

This year was my first real Mother's Day and it was perfect.
(Last year was technically my first: I was in my 1st trimester and Jake got me my first maternity outfit :))

This year was the real deal: I have a real baby that makes me a real mom! I love it!

It was a beautiful "first" mother's day...
I got to start the day by wishing my own mom a happy Mother's Day! She's the exact mother I try to be! She is the perfect example of a patient, loving, and caring mother. I love you, mom.

Then Jake made us a yummy surprise brunch before church:

Yummy Pepperoni-Cheese Crepes:

Then a surprise Oreo-Raspberry Jam Crepe:



My beautiful baby girl that makes me the happiest mom alive!


And after church, he made me my favorite dinner ever: SPAGHETTI!!



And then for my favorite pictures of the night :)
My twinners:




Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful women out there :)

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Isn't this cute?

Annabelle: 5 months

Can you believe she'll be SIX months this month? I'm having a really hard time believing this. She's my little baby, that has learned to do the following lately:



And this:





Eating her toes, and spitting all.the.time!!

She's also started doing a really funny clicking noise with her tongue and lips -- I'll have to film it and post it for you :)

A 'n M

Annabelle and Madison are lucky little cousins, that are practically sisters! They do everything together! On top of that, Ashley and I have about a MILLION pictures of them together.
My collection's gotten quite large, so I thought it was about time for another A 'n M post. And since it's been a while, I'm gonna start at the beginning...



...Can you see the love? She just can't wait for her to pop out (Annabelle and Ashley both) ;)

Right after Maddy "popped" out...




They got blessed together...



They love holding hands...



They (really just Annabelle) love sucking on each other's fingers and toes :)



Annabelle's already looking after Maddy like a good big sister :)



They go hiking together...




When they're not on the go, they like to just hang out with each other...



But our favorite moment to date is when laying next to each other just got a little old, and we found them like this:



Way to spice it up, girls! We love you :)