Sienna+Sadie=Happy Mommy

Sienna and Sadie are so much fun. They really are so sweet and such happy girls. A good friend recently asked me what my favorite things about being a mom are and my list went on forever.

Sienna has been saying the funniest things lately. If we ask her a question she typically responds with, "Oh yes!" or "Oh no!" It is never just a simple yes or no. The other day she was playing with her toys and I was in the other room and said, "Sienna, can mommy have a kiss?" and she got so excited and yelled "oh yes!" and came running in and gave me a big kiss. Then she said, "Sienna's going to go play with her monkey and toys and will come back and give mommy a kiss." Last night when Matt got home from work Sienna was on the potty so he went to get her down. As he was helping her, I hear Sienna say, "I am so proud of you daddy." It was pretty funny. She has done so well with potty training. This morning Matt and I went to the temple and she stayed dry for our friends the whole time (about 4 hours). I am so proud of you Sienna!

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Sienna watching a show for the first time in weeks. She is saying cheese but refused to look at the camera.

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Sadie is the definition of happy. She is always smiling and laughing. She stops people everywhere we go. This is a different outfit but it is one of her favorites. She loves to suck on the bows on the side as she goes to sleep.

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Sadie hanging out in the hall waiting for Sienna to finish going potty. This is one of my all time favorite pictures of Sadie. It just sums her up - gorgeous and happy!

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Sienna taking Sadie's picture.

These two are so much alike. They are even kind of making the same facial expression here. They are so fun to watch together. Sadie is getting so mobile. She climbs up on everything and in turn falls down quite a bit. Today I put Sadie down for a nap but Matt had to grab something out of her room for his meeting. When he went in he found her starting to stand up against the pack 'n play.

I love being home with my girls and wouldn't trade it for anything. The three of us have so much fun together.

Potty Training

Things have been busy here but we are having tons of fun. Sienna is potty training right now and is doing really well. We started yesterday and she stayed dry most of the day. This morning we ran to Costco and she made it home without wetting her pull up and then we went to the park and she made it home dry from there too. I ask her all the time how many hearts or butterflies are still on her pull up (they disappear when they're wet) and she says, "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 8!!!" Really, there are only three but she gets so excited to tell me that they are still there. I think we're going to stay home to make it easier for her.

. The other day I ran into my bedroom really quick to put something away and when I came back I saw Sienna playing with toys. I looked all over and couldn't find Sadie. I asked Sienna where Sadie was then I heard her to my left and looked into the kitchen. She is already a pretty good climber and gets into everything.

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Last night Matt and I babysat four kids until after 10:00. I will admit I was a little nervous having so many kids at my house so late but they all did awesome. We played for awhile and then watched Curious George. Natalie came to sit with me and her little brother Stephen wanted in too. It was so cute, they both just snuggled up to me. Brooklyn and Davin were also with us. I think we all had a great time!

These two laughing and teasing each other. We were hanging out in our PJs and undies for a good majority of the day yesterday.

Hair-dos and Hair Don'ts

We had a fun and busy week. Matt and I went on two dates without the girls. We don't go out often without Sienna and Sadie and because of that, it makes us really appreciate our time together.

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On our way out to dinner Friday night.

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These two have the same fake laugh. I don't know if Sadie learned it from Sienna or if Sienna picked it up from Sadie but it is hilarious. Nobody can get Sadie laughing like Sienna does.

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Sienna enjoys Sadie crawling around because now she has a partner in crime getting into everything. In fact, Sadie gets into more things than Sienna ever did. Sienna never opened cupboards but Sadie has already started showing interest. Their favorite place to play is on the fireplace. Sienna typically uses it as her stage to preform and Sadie is always trying to crawl in.

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It's kind of hard to see but Sienna's hair is ridiculous. It is getting longer but it is at an in between phase that is pretty hard to figure out what to do with it. I can get the sides to curl out a lot of times which I think it adorable but if she takes a nap or spends a few minutes in her car seat, all efforts are lost. This is a picture of her hair after waking up from a nap.

You probably thought it wasn't that bad but now you understand- RIDICULOUS! What should I do? I need to cut the back soon so she doesn't end up with a mullet.


Sienna and Joci delivering a birthday present to our neighbor. I feel cheap. This box of chalk was $3.99. I bought it for Sienna's birthday but didn't have anything for our neighbor. It gets even better- Tricia and I decided to put the gift from both of the girls. Splitting a $3.99 gift and technically it was for two kids. It was like each of us spending a dollar per child. I talked myself out of feeling bad because it is 52 giant pieces of chalk. Just when I started feeling good about the gift again I noticed that the label has $3.99 in the corner quite large and it was covered in plastic wrap. LAME! Guess what? I would have loved if someone gave this gift to Sienna for her birthday. She loves chalk and I don't expect people to spend a lot of money on her. With that said, Tricia and I removed the plastic wrap and labeling and wrapped it in a beautiful ribbon and it actually made a really cute-fun gift. A good lesson to myself on the important things in life but I'll save that for another day.
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What do you think of the pony tail? Most of her hair falls out almost immediately and I have to redo it multiple times a day but I am loving it.


Aren't they just the cutest? Joci is only about 3 months older than Sienna and they are such good friends. Watching them run towards each other with such excitement is one of my favorite things in the world.

If you know me, you know I love braids. My niece even asks to wear a "Karin braid" all the time. I don't know if that is necessarily a good thing (sorry Brit)- but at least she wants to be like me. Anyway, It has been awhile for me to do pigtails but it is so windy and I wanted my hair out of my face. I was walking the chalk down to Tricia's house to see if it was an okay gift and she made me come home and pose for a picture because she couldn't stop laughing. She said that I looked like a little school girl carrying a basket down the street so the next time I went to her house I skipped just to see what she would say. (I don't know what is up with this pose either but that is how Tricia told me to stand.)

For Matt: Happy Anniversary (This might be cheesy but it is for Matt, read at your own liking)

Four years ago today was the best day of my life and we have had many more best days since. If you know our story of how we met and how quickly we got married you would think we were nuts. However, as crazy as things may have seemed then, if you know us now you will see that we are perfect for each other. Happy Anniversary Matt! I appreciate you supporting me in anything I want to do. You always motivate me to do more than I see myself capable of doing. You are such a hard worker and support our family spiritually, emotionally and financially. I love you!! We've come such a long way in such a short time. Happy Anniversary! Thanks for the best four years of my life.

February 19, 2005

Matt, I fell in love with you immediately and new that I wanted to be with you forever. This was all magnified a million times when you helped me babysit when we first started dating. I saw how good you were with children and I knew that you would be an involved dad that would look forward to spending time with your kids. What a magical day it was when Sienna was born. You instantly took on the roll of being a father and I fell in love all over again. You and Sienna have such a special relationship that a lot of girls aren't lucky enough to have with their dads. You know how close I am to my dad and why this would mean so much to me.

When Sadie was born, all the feelings were the same.

For having three crazy girls in your life, you do an amazing job at putting up with all of us and giving us all lots of your attention.

Goodbye Sisters

This past Sunday was our last Sunday with the Sisters in our ward. Sister Johnston and Sister Sermon have been transferred and we are getting Elders again. It is always a great experience for our family to have the missionaries over but the last three months have been something special. We fed the Sisters every Sunday and then I would go with them to appointments. My whole family loved having them around and it definitely improved our sabbath.

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Learning of their upcoming transfers, the Sisters heart-attacked our front door. They covered the front door with hearts, a fish and some goodies.

Sienna had to go potty and when she was done she said something like, "I'm coming Sisters." I honestly don't remember exactly what she said to Matt but she yelled something out to the them. It was funny hearing her refer to them so casually as "SISTERS".

Sadie has started pulling up on everything she can reach. There were a couple pillows against the couch so Sadie tried her best to get to Sienna.

Audrey came over to play the other morning and she had fun jumping over the cuddlebag with Sienna. After I fluffed it, it was quite a challenge for them to get over it but they figured it out.

Sadie thinks she is so cool getting to the toys. It is hard for me to swallow that Sadie is now 7 months old.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day has started early at our house. Matt surprised me with a dozen gorgeous roses last night and Tricia and I spent today baking up a storm.

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Thanks Matt. I love you!

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I made a giant pound cake for Matt. It is one of his favorites. It isn't frosted or decorated because Matt prefers it plain.

These are similar to a sugar cookie base but they have an Andes Mint in the center. Both Matt and Russ love mint so hopefully these are a hit.

Sugar cookies for Matt. Another one of his favorites.

Tricia made the yellow cake with chocolate frosting for her husband Russ. Dad, if you come visit me, I will make you a yellow cake with lots of chocolate frosting!!!

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The finished products.

I Love Kids

The girls and I had a great day yesterday. It was a gorgeous day outside and we spent a few hours in the front yard with all of the kids on the street. I had all the kids dancing around, playing games and imitating animals. I woke up this morning and wondered why my back was a little sore and then I remembered how I was throwing all the kids in the air and spinning them in circles. They had tons of fun together and I had a great time goofing around too. I'm sure everyone that saw me thinks I'm nuts but what's wrong with clucking around like a chicken every once in awhile?
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We made a couple new friends. Sonja and Elijah live across the street but there parents have been in the Army and away from home for the last 15 months. They are cousins and saw us playing so they thought they would join the fun. Audrey came to play too.

. Sadie had fun playing on Tricia's giant beach towel.

Sienna and Joci spinning and flying like an airplane.
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Sadie got tired and fell asleep in her stroller. She slept for about an hour outside.
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As soon as she woke up, Sienna said, "baby" and gave her lots of kisses. Joci wanted to shower her with kisses too. They are two peas in a pod. The girls and I were outside already when Tricia and Joci came out. As soon as Joci saw Sienna she started yelling, "SEENA" and Sienna started yelling for Joci. They ran to each other and met in the middle of our houses with a big hug. It was adorable. Joci was so excited because she had a little valentine for Sienna too.


Drawing with chalk.

Sienna delivering some valentine treats a little early.

More Nana!

Yeah for more pictures from our time with Nana. Andrea, Allie and I took the girls to the mall.

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Nana and the Zoo

Nana came to visit this past weekend. I did not get enough pictures of her and the girls and it makes me sad. We had such a wonderful time with Nana and we can't wait to see her again. Thanks again Andrea for everything. We love you!!
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The weather was gorgeous on Saturday so we all went to the zoo.

Sadie enjoying the sun.

Sienna and Nana watching the monkeys.
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Sienna was too busy watching the animals to look at the camera.

Sadie and mommy playing.

Again, Sienna too busy to look at the camera.

Sitting by the alligators.

Sienna's new hairdo for church.

Sienna was exhausted after church again. This time she didn't even make it to dinner.