When Sami gets the Camera...

When Sami gets a hold of my camera, I end up with all kinds of pictures.  Since they are her works of art, I thought I would let her do this post.  So, without further ado, here's a little bit from Sami:

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Our most amazing tower!!

Ally and I took a long time to build this tower.  And we had to rebuild it a lot because Emmy kept knocking it over...

Who doesn't like Angelina Ballerina?

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My world of colors.

Nice mixtures, don't you think?

I took really close up pictures of my orange plaid dress!  :)

Pink, pink,pink!

Wow, is that real gold?

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My perfect pancake. (After many tries.)

Uncle Adam gave me a Cinderella Pancake Skillet for Christmas.

Thanks, Uncle Adam!!

We made special Banana Pancakes

"Go With Tommy"

Emmy LOVES to go on outings with Tommy.  In the last month or so we have been on a few.  But almost every day she asks to see Tommy and "Go with Tommy."  In January, one of our outings with Tommy (and Mary, Millie, and Jeffery) was when we took the front liner to downtown SLC to meet our daddies for lunch!  It was Emmy and Allys' first time on a train!  They had so much fun that Emmy asks to go on trains all the time now.

In February, we went to the Church History Museum by Temple Square and let the kids play for hours in the kids area there which is currently based on the lives of Church Members in Mexico.  They dressed in big skirts and danced, threw tortillas, played with music, watched videos, played games, and pretended to farm, fish, and drive a delivery truck.

We love outings with friends--especially Tommy!

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By  the way, Emmy announced the other day that she intends to take Tommy to the temple with her someday.  :)

Ally's Half Birthday!

Okay, I'm playing a slight bit of catch-up here.  Ally turned 4 1/2 last month!  Since her birthday is in the summer, her preschool teacher celebrated her half birthday. 

Ally has a hilarious personality that still keeps me on my toes.  She comes across as quiet and uninterested in most things but she is always watching (when she's not in another world).   Have you ever seen Angelina Ballerina?  In that cartoon, Angelina is always going into some daydream and her mom or teacher are always having to bring her back.  Ally reminds me of this.  She likes to daydream and can often get carried away.  Sometimes, when she's pretending, I have to call her name several times before she will suddenly realize I'm trying to get her attention. 

Something kind of funny about Ally is that when she isn't snuggling, she enjoys her personal space.  She spent two months telling me that there was a "Mean Girl" at school who was always hitting her.  When it started affecting her desire to attend, I decided to talk to the teacher.  It turned out that the little girl wasn't mean at all--she was just really huggy.  Ally took this little girls attempts at affection as being mean and hurtful.  :)  Once we explained what was going on to both girls, all problems stopped and they became friends. 

Ally now has three loose teeth and she is really excited for one to fall out so she can get her first visit from the tooth fairy.

Ally also loves her hair.  She is growing it out, bangs and all, and is often found combing her fingers through it to remove knots.  She does not like knots in her hair.  That being said, she pulled a first for any of my girls a couple months ago and cut her own hair!  She said she wanted to see if it would turn dark like Rapunzel's.  "Tangled" is starting to cause trouble in our house... Luckily, it was just a small section of hair and she didn't cut off much so it just made it look like she has layers in that little part.  It is so unnoticeable that I haven't even bothered to make the other side match yet. 

We all love Ally sooooo much!  Can't imagine life without her! 

PS.   I asked Ally if she wanted to say something and she said she wants to write something, so here is what Ally has to say:

mhj,l/.lnm kj mj;kjgki;kkol/'ilkrsdgjhhjht97543pilkds.rdfcvcv ik nhfhrtfrd6td67yjiuuu9997t7y76677878878876666354t55556ttyyvcdfhbggffghyyynhjhklhjgegh , ,mn,,m bnhb .k./ mk.nnnnng l     k, gf Nh

ally

24 weeks

Just a few more weeks left of the second trimester!!  I was really concerned before my ultrasound that something was wrong because I hardly ever felt the baby move.  I was relieved when I found out that the baby had implanted on the front of my uterus, meaning there is now a placenta on the front of my stomach, cushioning and muting most movement.  Now the baby is getting bigger than her placenta so I am feeling all kinds of movement on my sides, by my ribs, and often tapping at my tailbone and bladder.  Every now and then I even get a strong nudge on the front.  There is no doubt that this little girl likes to wiggle! 

This week, I started itching again.  It's not bad and, at first, I thought it was just my skin readjusting to the dry Utah air.  But it has started on the palms of my hands and souls of my feet--pretty good sign that I am heading into another episode of Cholestasis (the cause of Emmy having to induced early).  I called the doc and she said that there is no harm to the baby at this early point but basically it stinks to be me because I will be likely itching for the next three months.  Joy, joy.  It is tolerable at the moment and I don't even think about it most of the time, but memories of waking in the middle of the night--screaming and clawing because I itched so bad--are starting to make me a little nervous.  

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We wanted to get the baby a souvenir at Disneyland, so we went with this cute little onesie. 

Can't wait to try it on her!

Before and After...

Disneyland!

Our two day trip to Disneyland actually lasted NINE days!  Day 1, we drove to Las Vegas.  Day 2, we went to church with some dear friends from Law School--Todd and Stephanie and their two boys! Then we drove to Kaydee's house.  Day 3, we hung with Kaydee and Sam and let the kids play all day with their cousins.  The MPS Club (Sami's club with her two cousins, Morgan and Peyton) waisted no time getting going again.  They even made their own magazine this time, complete with pictures they took while running around that day!  Ally and Landon (one year older than Ally) felt left out so they started the AL Kitty Club!  Their club was basically based around tormenting Landon's new kitten.  They carried that poor little guy around most of the day and when he ran away and hid behind the dryer, they took up banging on the dryer to get him out.  Bet you can guess how well that worked...  They also played laser tag, lincoln logs, and jumped on the trampoline!

Day 4, we packed up and headed to the Hotel at Disneyland!  We made a few brief stops for lunch, gas, and a tire patch--yes, we got a our first flat tire on our van thanks to an obliging screw!  Once we finally made it to the hotel, we hit the not-so-hot hot tub.  (The pool's heater was out and it was only about 60 degrees outside.)  Emmy was so funny about being in the water again.  She hadn't been swimming in months and it showed.  She was a little weary of leaving the steps.  We tried and tried to coax her out into the water and show her that her floaties wouldn't let her drown.  Finally she said, "Okay, okay, I coming!" and got off the step but whenever she was let go of, she started to panic a little.  Sami and cousins were the insane ones who ran back and forth between the warm hot tub and the freezing cold pool. 

 Landon and Kaydee

 Days 5 and 6 were spent at Disneyland!  Day 7, we checked out of our hotel and headed for a little time at the beach!  The girls had so much fun chasing (or being chased by) the waves!  They all got soaked but it was well worth it.  And the weather was beautiful!!  It was almost 80 degrees!!

 We spent the rest of the day gaining some ground towards home.  We stopped for the night in St. George, Utah.  Day 8, we decided to actually do some relaxing after a long week and took our time getting out of bed and ready for the day.  We went to see the new Dr. Seuss movie and then stopped by the St. George Temple, Visitors Center, and Winter Home of Brigham Young.  Then we went back to the hotel and went swimming again!  Sami went diving for a quarter and Ally practiced jumping into the water.  Emmy did much better with the water this time and even learned to master her doggie paddle!

Emmy's Doggie Paddle (video)

The trip was a success and we were all glad that we went.  We were also glad, though, to be home again. 

DISNEYLAND!!!!

We went to Disneyland last week!!!  The girls had so much fun!  Jeremy and I had fun too but, boy, was it exhausting!  :)  We only went two days and stuck to the magic kingdom.  Maybe next time, when the girls are older, we will try out California Adventures.  The first day we had Kaydee (Jer's sister), Sam, and their kids with us.  Sami went nuts going on rides with her cousins.  It was her first time being big enough to ride everything!  There were a lot of firsts on this trip.  It was Ally and Emmys' first time at Disneyland.  Emmy had her first experience with having to wear a harness the whole time so we could keep track of her (and whenever we let go, she managed to disappear and make us panic for a good few minutes...).  Ally rode her first real roller coaster!

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Ally's favorite thing about Disneyland was definitely the Gadget Coaster!  She rode it the first day and I was so nervous because I had thought I would ride it with her, but then noticed a sign saying that expectant mothers were not allowed to ride. Jeremy had had his fill of roller coasters for the day so I sent Ally with her cousin, Tyler, who is a Senior in High School this year.  She was so excited and so determined, but I worried that once she got high up, she would panic.  When she returned, she was looking serious, but once she was off the roller coaster and standing with me, she was bouncing up and down and telling me all about how fun it was!  She said she got a little scared but "Sami got more scared and screamed the whole way!"  She didn't let Sami live that down for days.  She kept saying, "Sami was scared and I wasn't!"  The second day in the park, she insisted on riding again, this time with Jeremy.  After the ride, she told her dad, "That was SUPER AWESOME!!" 

Sami couldn't decide what part of the trip was her favorite.  When I asked her which was her favorite ride, she said, "Splash Mountain and Indiana Jones and Star Tours and..."  (You get the idea).  The first "Big Kid" ride she went on was Space Mountain.  I was rather jealous that I couldn't ride with her because that has always been my favorite ride at Disneyland.  But she and Jeremy both rode it for the first time and loved it!  The only big-kid rides Sami didn't ride were the Matterhorn (it was closed) and the Rocky Mountain Railroad (she took one look at it and said "not yet").

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MEETING CHARACTERS

The girls met Tinker Bell, Terrance, Rapunzel, Aurora, Mulan, Tiana, and Jesse from Toy Story.  Then Emmy and Ally met Jasmin, Aladdin, Tigger, Pooh and Rosetta while Sami was on rides.  And Ally met Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother, and she said HI to Ariel as she walked by, while Sami was on rides and Emmy was sleeping.  The only one we didn't meet, that Sami was rather bummed about, was Belle.  Sami had dressed like her and really wanted a picture with her but she was nowhere to be found the whole time.  I guess Beast was just being too demanding.  :)

We met Tinkerbell and Terrance the first day but Emmy missed it because she fell asleep in Aunt Kaydee's arms while waiting in line.  So of course, we had to go back the next day so Emmy could meet Tink in person.  We also met Rosetta while we there.

 Emmy surprised me the most when we met Tigger!  She SQUEALED and ran to him and gave him a big hug!!!  I was shocked because 1. I don't think she even really knows who Tigger is, and 2. Sami was terrified of the Pooh characters and Mickey and the gang when we took her to Disneyland at Emmy's age.

I also took a few short videos.  The first two are from when I took Emmy and Ally on It's a Small World.  Jeremy had no desire to do that ride so I went while he and Sami were on Star Tours.

We stayed to watch the parade the first night.  It was actually the best parade I have seen at Disneyland--though it seemed a little short.  Ally was so excited to see the princess float in the middle of the parade that she waved the entire time it passed by.  She didn't stop waiving until it was out of sight.  :)

 Emmy cracked me up when she met anyone, especially characters.  She turned into quite the chatterbox and talked all of Disneys' ears off.  Here they are meeting Tiana and Rosetta.

This last video is my favorite!  The last ride we went on as a family was the Madhatter's Teaparty.  I just love all the laughs!!! 

 WE HAD FUN!!!!