Campout

Alyssa got a frog tent for Christmas and I had been promising them all summer that we would take it outside and have a campout sometime. Well, I crawled into the frog tent the other day and realized that we would never be able to fit, or at least it would be terribly uncomfortable for the three of us in that thing for an entire night. But I had to make good on my promise...so I borrowed David's tent and we went for our first campout. We drove all the way to Woods Cross and set up the tent in James' backyard. We ate hotdogs for dinner, we hooked up a little tv, made popcorn and watched Alice in Wonderlad in our tent after it got dark. We had a fantastic time "camping." The girls thought it was a lot of fun and keep asking me when we can go camping again.

First day of Preschool

I'm so excited for the girls to be in preschool! Alyssa and Holly seem to love learning. Their little minds are primed for soaking up lots of new information. On Tuesday they went to meet their teacher...Mrs. Butters. Wednesday morning was their first official day of class. I was a bit nervous about the whole thing. I knew that Holly wouldn't have a moment's hesitation, but I wasn't so sure about Alyssa. We had a pretty smooth morning...the girls didn't fight me too much about getting dressed and letting me do their hair, they even let me take some first day of school pictures. When we got to Mrs. Butters home I was anxious to see how it would go...but they did great! We went in and I took Alyssa to the bathroom, gave them a hug and a kiss and I was off...no crying or clinging at all...yea! When I returned, Alyssa was smiling brilliantly...she ran up to me, gave me a big hug and said, "mom, I did it all by myself," I was so proud of her. Then Holly gave me a big hug and said, "I love Mrs. Butters." Sounds like a great first day.

Tumbling Superstars

You would never guess by looking at this picture...but little Holly was so excited to start her tumbling class last Monday, and she did awesome! She is fearless, energetic and a fantastic leader. Alyssa did great too, she clung to me for the first 40 minutes...but those last 5 were spectacular. She's as fast a locomotive, leaps small objects in a single bound...she was super! I'm so proud of my little girls... that are growing up way too fast!

Girls just wanna have fun!

The girls love to get out of the house, so we try to do something fun, away from home, as often as possible. One of their favorite places is the Castle Park in Kaysville, they also love to feed the ducks at the Layton Park. Some days we just go to McDonalds and have lunch together and play in the play area. The other day we did something that they really love...we road Frontrunner to Salt Lake City and went to Discovery Gateway. They love that place, and they especially love to ride the train.

This summer they also had a lot of fun at the Fair. I had been looking forward to taking them all summer because I knew they would love the petting zoo. David ended up taking them for me.

When the going gets tough...

the tough go to Disneyland...right? I was sitting in Relief Society contemplating my chaotic life and trying to make sense of everything, when the girl sitting next to me strikes up a conversation. She asks if I've got any fun plans for the summer. I explained that I recently found out that I was getting divorced and that I had no plans whatsoever, including where I was going to be living the next day. She said...you should go somewhere and get away for awhile. That sounded nice...so I mentioned that the only place I could afford to go, was probably to my brother's house just outside of San Diego. Well, the next day I got a knock at the door. It was Kim from church. She handed me an envelope and told me that she had been thinking about me, gave me a big hug, and then she left. I opened the envelope and inside was a thoughtful card and tickets to Sea World, the Wild Animal Park, and the San Diego Zoo. That was just the motivation i needed to call up my sister-in-law Kara and ask if we could come for a visit. We loaded up the car 5 days later and took off on a road trip to California.

The girls did awesome! I was a little, okay, extremely nervous about the whole thing...being on my own, but to my surprise the girls were truly angels. It also helped that David, Kara, and the kids were so wonderful! We had a great time at all of the attractions and even made it to the beach. It was really just what I needed, and I think the girls had a great time too. David flew down to help me take the girls to Disneyland and drove back with us. What a wonderful trip!

One of the highlights for the girls was playing with max and gus gus, cousin Zach's rats.

Never in a million years...

would I have imagined my life to be like this. So many ups and downs, twists and turns. There have been wonderful times interspersed with deep sadness and loss. Most of my life has been like a quiet peaceful summer's morning...but these past few years have felt more like a long, dark, cold winter...

At least I have Alyssa and Holly. What would I do without them? Their sweet, "i love yous," hugs and kisses ignite a warmth that helps me get through even the coldest, darkest moments.