Bree Turns Three!

"Sharing" her make-up with Uncle Vance

and Daddy

Hugs to Grandma Latham!

Listening to Daddy's head :) She understood the shot part of the dr. kit, but apparently not this part.

So many presents!

The birthday girl

Blowing out the candles! (and yes, she picked out the Christmas tree cake-no balloons for this girl!)

I LOVE MAKE-UP!

The glee on her face after coming down the hill

Heading to the TOP of the hill with Daddy

Our little "Bee" turned three a week before Christmas. It's funny, her name is Breanna, we call her Bree and now we've shortened it to Bee. Don't know why we bother giving them names. She's Bee and Emma is Goose.

Anyway, Bree kills us, in more ways than one. I LOVE LOVE LOVE to listen to her talk. She has a lisp, makes a "w" sound for her "L", and mixes words all around. "Think" is "fink", and she says "I fink" a LOT. I know she'll eventually grow out of it, so I'm enjoying it for now. She will perform I Love to See the Temple, I am Like a Star, and I am a Child of God on command. She and Emma love to play pretend Dad, Mom, kid, baby, dog and cat. And Bree will sit in her carseat and make her hands "talk" to each other. It's hilarious to hear her do a "daddy" voice.

I feel bad that I don't spend as much "teaching" time with her like I did with Emma, but in spite of that, she surprises me with her knowledge of shapes, numbers, sounds and colors! We have a Dora video in the car that she pretty much has memorized. She wears headphones when watching it and I love listening to her say it word for word, especially with her lisp :)

She is definitely our adventurer. She was the one going to the very top of the sledding hill and going down full blast. She'll jump into any pool (one thing I DON'T love) b/c she thinks she can swim. She wants to be thrown up into the air and jump through any snow pile, crunchy pile of leaves, or rain puddle. She is willing to try any and everything. She has no fear at all. Dave thought that this would mean that she wouldn't be as girly, but NO. This little one LOVES make-up, dress-ups, and dancing around to music. She does some hilarious dance moves. And she is just a funny girl-she has a sense of humor and loves joking around. A few weeks ago we had a family dinner at Aunt Julianne's and she was performing. She was making up loud songs about anything within her view-picture frames, couches, toys, socks, etc. Dave asked her to do a somersault, which she had no idea what he was talking about, so he told her to roll on her head, after which she proceeded to put her hand in a fist and "roll" her fist on top of her head. SO FUNNY. She was looking at him like he had lost his mind, but she'll satisfy him and roll on her head. So he asked her to stand on her head and she looked at him funny and patted the top of her head. The literal translations were cracking us up. And at the end...she takes a bow.

There are times when I lose my mind with her, but things have gotten a little easier as her vocabulary has increased. No matter what happens during the day, I am always able to laugh about it at night.

What has been so funny is watching our old home videos of Julianne and Kimmy and seeing my Emma and Bree-SPITTING IMAGES. Julianne and Emma were both pretty little things, cute bob haircuts-seriously-Julianne was one of the prettiest little girls I've ever known, and so is Emma. And they are both the ones that worked so hard at making sure everyone was telling the truth and being obedient, or that things were being done correctly, that everyone was being responsible, or that there was justice and fairness in everything. Then there's Kimmy and Bree-the scrawny little ragamuffins with curly, unmanageable hair. They test the limits and make us laugh while doing it. There was a video of Juju and Kimmy in the tub. Juju was telling Kimmy that she needed to wash her feet, and Kimmy says that the water takes care of it and that she doesn't really need to b/c she didn't walk outside that day. But of course, Juju calls her on it and says that she DID walk outside and that water does not clean your feet by itself. I can't tell you how many bathtime conversations I've heard between my 2 girls that sounds almost exactly alike. Sigh...it makes me smile. Even though my girls fight, I cherish the moments that they are giggling together and having fun, which has been more often lately now that Bree is able to use more words and has a tiny (TINY) bit more control of her temper :)

So, to my little Bee: I love you so much and Happy Birthday! You bring so much laughter and spazziness to our house and I wouldn't have it any other way!

On the agenda for today...

BYU game, of course. And the girls are feeling the cougar spirit. Mind you, this is all on their own-no encouragement from us. This is what I found them doing after they were dressed and ready for the day. And yes, it ends in tears, as all videos of children do eventually, right??

I'm in Heaven

Look at this sweet little teddy bear that I got to baby-sit. She was so perfect and cuddly and fell asleep right in my arms. I could hold her all day! *sigh* Thanks for sharing your girls Kari :)

Our last month in California

A little out of order, but a lot happened in October!

We finally gave in and got Emma her Jessie doll...and you know that scene in the movie where the little girl is swinging Jessie around holding her hands? Yes, Emma does that.

Everyone needs a little shoot-em-up :) This is one of the girls' favorite rides!

LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture. Bree is really planting one on her!

I love this picture too-it totally captured the excitement the girls were feeling :) And it just might possibly remind me of...me.

After 5 trips to Disneyland, we finally ventured into Sleeping Beauty's castle, and I was reminded of why we never went in there to begin with-not much happening.

LOL-This was AWESOME! We went on the ferris wheel in California Adventure. Now, I am deathly afraid of heights and would never get on any ferris wheel with kids, with the exception of this one-fully caged in. But Emma would NOT enjoy it. She was scowling and looking everywhere to make sure there was no way we would fall out. We laughed. She got mad at us for laughing.

Emma kills me with her poses. This should be an advertisement for Disneyland.

Getting ready for Toy Story Midway Mania, the BEST RIDE EVER! I almost beat Dave's score. It didn't help that I had to keep stopping my shooting to help Bree put her glasses back on. You'd think that at a kids amusement park they'd make kid-sized 3-D glasses. But nope. (And I also have an issue with all the kids 3-D movies coming out-no kid sized glasses for those either! they won't stay on a kid's head if they sit back-try it, you'll see what I'm talking about!)

Saying good-bye to friends in CA

This one broke my heart. Emma started crying when Tommy gave her a hug.

Bree and sweet little Ellie

Hay fight in the kid maze. How is it that kids know exactly what they should do with hay?

The goats all waiting for their snack. Good thing we didn't lose any fingers!

Inside the maze...a tad bit claustrophobic. For the big people anyways.

Proof that I CAN take a good picture sometimes.

Saying goodbye to friends at school. The boy on the right is sweet Brice, who we carpooled with. He had 3 adorable little sisters and the funnest mom!

Girls discussing the mud pit

Please take note of how much shorter Emma is than all the other kids. I knew she was small, but it didn't hit me until I looked at these pictures.

Bree and Ellie at one last FHE bbq.

And making cookies in our jammies. We do that frequently.

Halloween

I know, it's a little late for this, but I've been a little busy. For some reason blogger won't let me change things around, so the pics are first-yay for you. Of course, we need one of Dave's involvement :) Bree's little tiara kept falling off when she ran, so Dave toted it around. Stunning, right? And all the good pictures are on Grandpa Al's camera. So this is all I've got-for some reason the rest of the pictures are all blurry. I don't know if it's b/c the camera was on some weird setting or if it's b/c the kids were so excited and wouldn't sit still for a second. Emma was quite the poser all night-she LOVED her dress and wig (that was one awesome wig). And Bree looked so adorable in her get-up. She loves being fancy, and going as Fancy Nancy couldn't have been more perfect for her.

a wedding

Here's the happy couple-aren't they CUTE?


The siblings...what you don't see is Von lifting his pants to show off his legs. ALMOST as sexy as ours...almost.
The sisters...aren't WE cute? hehe.

This picture is VERY indicative of our family. I'm just sayin'...

And then all the grandkids. Once again, notice MY children? They always ruin extended family pictures. Bree has this knack for looking away from the camera the second she sees one. And Emma just whines when we're trying to take family pictures. Just like her daddy.


And for those who care, here's the wedding I cake I did for my sister. I can see the imperfections, but I'm not going to point them out :)



Halloween pictures to come soon! I'm still a little overwhelmed from the effort of last year's costumes, and with the move I decided not to go overboard this year. But Emma's wig and Bree's costume DO look stinkin' cute.

Happy Halloween!

It's the Devil's Work!!

So we were coming home from a BBQ with some friends the other night. We were happy, feeling content with life, and unprepared to meet the Spawn of Satan in our drive way. Emma was the first unfortunate soul to gaze upon the horrible creature. As I was walking into the garage I heard her scream with the voice of a million dieing angels. A piece of my heart died at the sound.

As I turned to her I saw her pale face illuminated by the moon, pointing at the beast. By this time Bree was passed out on the ground from the terror being emitted by the vile creature from below. Loralee was in convulsions and levitating in the air, speaking in demonic tounges. Luckily for the women folk I was able to keep my wits about me and attack.

It was a fierce battle. The ground shook, trees were felled, and blood was shed. When the dust settled I stood over my foe knowing that all that seperated me from being dragged down to the firey depths was the beach bucket I was able to capture him with. If not for the pink plastic mold of a castle I would now be blogging from a sulfur pit of dispair.

I will now include a picture of my adversary in the hopes that all may be warned. Do not tread lightly with the evil known as the POTATO BUG!!! (Not to be confused with a Rollie Pollie. Those are cute adorable bugs that come into existence every time a puppy chases his tail for the first time)

If you look closely you can see the houses being crushed by the beast. They average about 20 feet in height, or at least they seem to when you see them for the first time. For further information about how to protect yourself from the emotional trauma suffered by too many innocent people please consult the following web site: http://www.potatobugs.com/faq/index.html My prayers are with everyone that we may stand strong against the adversaries forces. Stand strong everyone, stand strong.