Vegas Visitors

The family had a special treat this past weekend. My sister was able to come visit for the weekend. It was so so so fun for all of us, but especially Emma and Kate.

Emma has a healthy obsession for my sister, Jenny.

Kate has an unhealthy obsession for Aaron, Jenny's boyfriend, who came down as well. We'll just leave it at that...

We hit the pool for 2 of the days and hit the strip too. It was a great weekend for both. There was a bit of an overcast so it was bearable to be outside.

Kate has no fear when it comes to crazy things like this. She craves it!

That's Aaron with Kate and Jenny is with Emma. Talk about a nice break from the kids. The girls just wanted constant attention from these two, which left Joe and I to do nothing, awesome.

me and jenny

We hit the strip but not for too long. Everyone was exhausted, including myself. It was really humid this past weekend too, which gave me bad memories of TX summers...uck...

When visitors don't keep me busy and company, I have found ways to keep busy so I don't go insane while we stay in side to beat the heat.

Well that's it for now. Please, any other visitors are more than welcome to come to Vegas ;) ;)

Katers is TWO...

Seriously the fastest 2 years of my life. I swear she just came out of me...even the past year flew by. I feel I just threw her 1st birthday.

But time goes on! Kate is officially 2 and by the way she acts these days, you would believe it...sometimes I want to...sigh...i'll stop right there. Here's the big day, which was the 20th:

Woke up and presented her with her birthday crown that I conjured up out of felt. Super easy and super fun...(thanks melis for the tutorial a while back)

Got ready for the day and took these. She looks SO old in these. We then left to the library for a fun FREE class and crafts.

Daddy is home! They get so excited!

Time for Birthday Desert. I was originally going to make a big cookie cake like last year but was worried about the outcome with the gas oven since i'm still learning. So we went with ice cream cookie sandwiches with whip cream on top. It was SOOO good and easy! Hate cake left overs!

Present time: She got a beautiful flower dress from Grandma Z. , Polka dress from Grandma T. LOTS of coloring books and a set of Princess crayons. She loves it all!

Life would be incomplete with out Kate in our family.

• She is such a delight for this family.

• She's the sweet cuddle bug that will just walk over to me and give me a hug and kiss and then be on her way.

• She adores Emma. She'll follow her around and play together. They seriously are best friends. Even this morning when I went into their room, Emma was in Kate's crib and they were just talking and playing together.

• She is so smart. I can boldly say that since I have Emma to compare to...let me explain. Growing up, Emma was more focused on physical developement, like running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. She was and still is super active. She was a late talker. So when Kate started talking around the same time as Emma, that came as a shock. Kate can have normal conversations with all of us. She knows her letters and will sing the ABC song. She knows most of the nursery songs. She is a great conversationalist.
• She's a tad shy and quiet when you first meet her but don't take it personal. She'll warm up to you quickly and then talk your ear off.

• She's very observant and catches on things that you'd think kids her age wouldn't think about.

• I love this girl to death.

And for those who have been dying to see another pic of me or hassling me, here you go. I am 25 weeks along here. Am I the only one who feels and looks huge?

And just so you know, a few days after my "style" post, I was at DI for a metal tray and found 4 shirts that were super cute and only $1!! Talk about a hidden blessing! Gotta love DI and/or Goodwill :)

UT Trip

The weekend of the fourth, we all drove up to UT for the 4th. My family has some great traditions for the 4th and since I live only 5.5 hours away from them, I had to go!

We left Thursday, and got in pretty late. We stayed at my sister's condo and a few of my siblings were there. We all went to bed really late. The next day, we stuck around Provo for a bit so see how things changed or have not changed. We met up with Joe's brother Matt and walked about BYU campus...yes, I am one of those nerds who like to re-visit the campus...but it was fun to see it all again. I did spend 3.5 years there!

The good ol' Y. This was Joe and I's first date...yep, again, one of those nerds...

One of the traditions is the grandkids and parents camp out in the backyard. There was a bit of a scheduling conflict this year, sadly but we still make a party out of it. We made smores and let the girls play on the tramp.

Here's all the tents...this was actually taken before the pic above...but me and my 3 other siblings (and 2 sister in laws) all slept out here. The kids have fun. The whole idea of camping is so fun to them really.

Another tradition? Float down the creek! I love our backyard. There is an awesome creek along our backyard. I've been doing this since I was 7!

Anyways, we got the rafts out and had plenty of supervision. The kids had a blast.

Poor brother. He tried to put plastic bags over his legs to numb the extremely cold water but it didn't matter...his face is classic here.

Uncle Mike reading to the girls

And letting Emma help mow the lawn. Emma wants to help is anyway she can these days!

I have friends! lol I met up with some great friends for dinner...can I just say the Tiramisu cheesecake is delish? Me (can you tell my hair is not used to the dry weather?), Candice, Kelli, Heather and Holland.

We were able to go the the Oquirah Temple Open House. I was really excited for Emma to see inside a temple. She loves to see temples and wants to go there some day...

Oh I should mention at this point, Joe drove back to Las Vegas with a classmate so it was just me and the girls.

Jenny and the fam.

One evening, we went to the new Highland city splash park. The girls surprised me and actually got into the river and played with the water. They usually don't do that. But it was hot enough for it. It's a cool little park!

And as a side note for Smith's Food and Drug, great job making these mini-carts. Emma felt so special and helpful with her own cart. It was so cute for her to follow me with her cart and putting groceries in it. Even now, she asks for the small carts...sorry sweetie. Las Vegas is behind in that department :(

It was a great trip! Not pictured were many fun times with family, friends and especially my sisters! I am so blessed to be close again to my family for the next year. We had a blast and you all helped so much with the girls. I really appreciate it!