New Hairy-hairy-Dooooo

Lately Adelia is OBSESSED with Scooby Doo! We borrow the cartoons from the library so I assumed she would enjoy watching the real person (Freddie Prinze Jr.) version............... and oh buddy, did she ever!

She watched it every day and begged to watch it again as soon as it was over. (Um no thank you.) Soon all conversation from her turned into "Fred said this, Velma said that, Scooby made this face, the ghost did that.......and on and on and on......" I was so glad to return it today!

This picture is of them pretending to be scared of the monsters in the movie--that they had seen like 5 times by now!

So forgive me if the title turned into an Ode-To-Scooby Doo.  May that VHS rest in peace! 

On that note, Adelia got a new hairdo! It looks adorable on her and I love that even when I don't fix it, it still looks half way decent...whereas before, not so much.

And well, between Tianna's school pictures and Adelia's haircut, the dog was feeling left out. Copper just wanted to pose for a picture too. 

We Have a Kindergartner, Say Whaaaaaaaaat?!

First of all, don't ya just love this rainbow? Seriously, EVERY time it rains there is gorgeous double rainbow right outside our kitchen doors. That land must be a gold mine! 

 Okay, now onto more important things-- TIANNA STARTED KINDERGARTEN! She attends C.S. Lewis Academy, the charter school here in Santaquin.  Her teacher is Mrs. Schultz and she is one of two girls in her class. There are only 6 kids total. We carpool with 2 other kids and it's so funny knowing you literally have half the class with you in your car.

 She is having a complete ball at school and comes home excited to tell me all about it every day...... okay, so truthfully I try to get her to tell me all about it and she just says it was fun but she can't remember what they did. *sigh*

 Her first day was August 27th. Being the genius that I am, while dropping her off I realized I had  completely forgotten to feed her LUNCH! What kind of mother am I?! (oh right, one who never eats lunch at 11!) Plus I didn't even pack her something for snack time...... I found out what time that takes place and made sure to be there with food just at the right time.  Well they forgot to mention their schedules were different for the first day so she missed snack time too! They pulled her out of music class to eat her snack I brought. I felt like Mother of the Year.

 OH well, at least she's cute! And she didn't even realize she missed lunch because she was too excited!

 She was really excited to wear the peacock/flower clip Aunt Monica made

Vittoria's birthday and 3 Years

Cannot believe it's been 3 years! That's 3 years without seeing her sweet face, feeling her long arms wrap around us in a hug, and 3 years since hearing her sweet voice.  We miss her every day and our hearts still ache for her family who miss her in a way no one can understand.

We weren't able to make it down to the cemetery on the 16th, the 3rd anniversary of her passing.  Luke and I actually were in SLC attending the funeral of one of Luke's high school friend's little boy.  He had had a heart transplant last November and we followed his story really closely through their blog.  We could not believe the news that his body rejected the heart and he passed away.  It was so sad!

On the 23rd we gathered at the cemetery as a family to honor Vittoria on what would be her 11th birthday.  There are a lot of pictures, but Val has asked if we took any pictures that day to share :)

 LOVE IT!

Also while we were in Castle Country we also got to spend a day in Castle Dale.  Auntie Monica painted the kid's faces. They thought it was so cool! (despite Tianna's dreary looking expression)

Her munchin smile as of late kills me!

We also played with the Frandsen cousins too.  Here we are at the Dino Mine Park... poor Jacomo, always so outnumbered! 

SURPRISE from the Vet

Only about a week after these funny pictures of the girl's dressing the cat and the dog up in Pink stuff, we had an interesting discovery.  When we took Lilly the cat to get spayed, we ended up picking up our NEUTERED MALE cat 5 hours later.  

I was so flabbergasted. I couldn't believe for 3 months we have thought Lilly was a girl.  We were told she was when we bought her, and never questioned it.  Especially since S(he) was VERY furry down there and we couldn't tell otherwise! 

 I was really worried how Tianna would handle it.  She LOVED having her Princess kitty cat.   Adelia was with me when we found out, but was in denial. She just kept saying, "Lilly is a girl!" But later that night when we sat Tianna down to break the news to her, reality set in.  Adelia started bawling hysterically, "Lilly is a BOY!?!?!?!" and was inconsolable for probably a half hour! Once she held WILLY and realized he is still the same cat, she calmed down. Tianna handled it like a champ but just this morning she had to check to see if he turned back into a girl! hahahhaha.

 ps- Luke was not thrilled to see his dog, Copper, dressed in a pink tutu.

This is a random, but I wanted to post it somewhere.  Tianna is so creative and sweet! She leaves me pictures and notes all around the house.  This time it's

Green Bean "Mom," Squash/zucchini Heart, and Tomato/zucchini Flower

Fun with the Sun... Sunstone co-workers, that is

Luke is blessed to work with some of the best people ever! They also happen to have awesome wives for me to be friends with too.

We love getting together often for game nights, dinner, or outings.  Luke and the guys play soccer once or twice a week together, while the wives sit back and chit-chat.  We just love having a built in social circle! :) not everyone can say they look forward to hanging out with their co-workers after work too.

The second weekend in August we invited the Engineering team and their families to our cabin in Scofield.  It was so fun to get-away and play in the mountains.  We ate tons of food, stayed up WAAAY too late playing games, rode horses, went on a walk, ate more food, and then sadly it was time to go home.  We can't wait to get together up there again soon!

On our walk to the swings

 The kiddos of the group.  I know kids are so much cuter, but why don't we ever get pictures of all the adults?! 

 After using ashes as finger paints.....

I had to take a picture of this: Adelia NEVER willingly takes a nap.  Tianna said she was in our room changing her clothes. When after a long time she hadn't come out I went to see what mischief she was doing... apparently she was cold while changing because she was in bed naked and fast asleep! 

The very next weekend Sunstone had their company Summer party.  This year instead of just a picnic, everyone opted for a camp out.  When it all came down to it, not that many actually camped, but it was still really fun............Minus the cows who mooed ALLLLLLL night long. 

Sure Luke, get a picture of the preggo girl just as she is eating... 

 The kids listening to ghost stories from the older kids. Thanks for freaking them out just before bed time. hahah

We count ourselves blessed every day for Luke's work.  He works for and with some of the greatest people ever! 

Laaaaaaaaaaagooooooooooooooon

The last time either Luke or I have been to Lagoon was way before we were married.   Early this summer we had to buy tires....again..... and this time we got two complimentary tickets to the amusement park.  (very expensive tickets if you ask me!)

We talked Wombat (my mom) into joining us on our fun little outing to Lagoon.  It really was fun, but it was HOT, and I never realized how much less fun roller coasters can be when you are 7 months pregnant before.  Or a worried mommy........ or is it just being old enough to realize the thrill of the ride does not compensate for the sick feeling afterwards.  Even Luke decided that his iron stomach of the past just isn't what it use to be and we opted out of the big rides.

Anyhoo, the kids LOOVED it and we had fun taking them to all the kiddie rides.  It only took 2 mild roller coasters before I tossed my cookies...... and after that I stuck with rides no more twirly than Tidal Wave, Rattle Snake Rapids, and the Ferris Wheel.

But we are happy we went and hopefully next time we go, no one will be pregnant :)

 You can't tell, but Adelia and Tianna are in the second to last cart.  

 Right before getting completely drenched on Rattle Snake Rapids and the log ride (don't mind the sweaty, shiny faces!)

Guests!

During the first week of August, while her hubs was gone, my sister in law, Joy, and her adorable girlies Jocelyn and Joelle came to stay for a bit. (not long enough of course! hehe)

The kids were anxious for days for them to arrive.  That day they occupied themselves with a little "exploring" as Tianna put it. 

Been reading a bit too much Fancy Nancy?

Once they arrived we hit up the Payson Pool

 Aren't they so cute?

 And so is Joy :) 

One small adventure we had while they were here was the "Case of the Missing Lilly-Cat". 

 She didn't come in that night when we called her, but we didn't think much of it, until she still wasn't home the next morning.  We looked all around and called and called for her but she didn't turn up.  Since she is still so young we were pretty worried that she had been hit by a car, eaten by a dog or something worse, or had been adopted.......... she's so cute, who'd blame someone for wanting to keep her. 

I realized how much I love our kitty when I thought she would never come home.  We had just started going on a door-to-door hunt when we noticed some girls near a house 4 down from us holding something white that looked like it might be a cat.

I rushed up and found 2 girls holding 2 cats.... one was Lilly. They claimed they were just about to bring her home.......... but I have my doubts! It sure looked they were headed into their own house instead. So now she is fully collared and has a cute little tag. 

She acted so strangely that day when she was finally home.  She seemed so tired and snugly (not her usual!) But the girl's ate it up and loved getting to hold and hold her.  By that night she was back to attacking our feet and causing trouble.