Go BYU!

We were so excited to be back in the stadium yesterday for the start of football season. All of the family were decked out and ready to enjoy. The girls aren't quite old enough to really be at the game, so they settled in with Rebekah and had fun playing instead. The game was great, but we could have done without the 100 degree weather. It was so unbelievably hot. I hope none f the other games will be like that. We did have a blast and the Cougars beat Northern Iowa 41-17. We're excited for our next home game against UCLA.

One happy Cougar loving family.
(Katya's trying her cheerleader pose.)

Nice to be sitting next to Megan again.

I love my football-loving husband!

What a beautiful sight!

My Little Sweethearts

I love when they sit together and are nice to each other. Even though Katya thinks it's funny to take things from Cali and run, they play quite well now. I can tell that they will be a pair of troublemakers when they get older. I also can see that they will have a great relationship too. I am so glad that I have 2 little girls that can grow up together.

FOOTBALL!!!!!

Go Cougars!!!!!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,

Thank you for the wonderful clothes. They are adorable and we can't wait to wear all of them. Katya already fits into some.

We are excited for winter so that we can wear are adorable, warm coats.

Thank you very much.

Love,
Katya and Cali

To afraid to move

I'm too afraid to move too much from the computer desk right now. Every time Cali notices me moving she screams. That makes Katya scream. Cali is taking teething really hard right now and cries so much. It seems teething tablets aren't helping so getting her calmed down and me staying put seems to be the only thing to help. The thing that seems to throw off this discovery is Katya stealing Cali's pacifier or inflicting some other kind of torture. Let's hope those teeth come in quickly and less painful.

9 Month Check-Up

Cali had her check-up today and here are her stats:

Weight: 22 pounds 7 ounces
Height: 28 inches

She's been pretty cranky lately and I'd checked to see if she had teeth yesterday and there were none. I thought she might have an ear infection but that was ruled out. She was sitting on my lap a few minutes ago laughing and I saw it. That's right- her first tooth. It must hurt because she is taking it hard. Poor thing. What a cutie though. I can't believe she is getting so big!

Why am I so excited for this week?

1. Cougar Football!
2. No class in Provo.
3. Spaghetti sauce is canned.
4. Farmer's Market.
5. Cali's 9 month checkup.
6. Nice weather.
7. Megan came for a visit yesterday.
8. Scouts.
9. I can now go to sleep on time since the Olympics are over.
10. Grocery Shopping.
11. Fall time.
12. My girl's super cute football Saturday outfits.
13. I get help containing my kids (more about that later)

Sometimes I feel like I live on a farm... (Part 2)

Thursday night I spent about an hour in the garden picking these glorious tomatoes.



There were so many. Why did I pick all these you may ask? First of all, I can't let them go to waste because homegrown is so much better than store bought. Second, To make home made spaghetti sauce. (Janae, you asked about a week ago how I make my own spaghetti sauce. It's pretty simple. I just get a bunch of tomatoes and take the skins off and the stems out. I then puree some, chop some, and leave some whole. I threw them all in a huge pot with whatever meats, vegetables, and spices I want. I let it cook for a couple of hours. It's all about the taste you want. Pretty simple.) After making all the sauce I canned it. It was my first time canning and I felt like it took forever to get it all made and canned. Looking back, it wasn't that bad and I will definitely do it again. It's fun to say that I know how to can and that I can be successful at it. It's a good feeling. Jethro probably thinks I'm crazy for all the ideas I have in my head now on what I am going to can.

The Finished Product: 12 cans of yummy spaghetti sauce

Go Cougars!

Cali Crawls

Here it is. The other voice is my dad. We were doing a video call with him and demonstrated Cali's crawling skills for him and figured it would be a good time to record it. She sure is cute. The quality isn't very good, but we will get a better one some day.

My Precious 2 Year Old

There are times when I look at Katya and can't believe how big she's getting and how old she looks. I know kids get big and grow old, but Katya was little for so long that I got used to the idea of her just being little. Ever since Cali joined our family, Katya has changed and grown so much. There are so many things that I love about her. Today I took her outside for a just-for-fun photo shoot. This was the first time I've been able to really catch her personality on film. I am loving a ton of the pictures today so there is going to be a lot. I'm putting them all up so they end up in my blog book. (If you do look at them all, let me know which is your favorite.)

I can't believe she's figured it out and I want to know how

The girls were down for a nap , but not asleep. I had just gotten off the phone with my mom when I heard Katya crying. It was her "I'm stuck or hurt" cry. I figured she had got her arm stuck underneath the crib like she did this morning. (The number one problem with being flexible- can get into places but not out of them.) I go to check on her and as I open the door it hits her in the head. Hmmm.... how the heck did she manage to get over all the railings I put up (as evidenced in this post)? Now I know why she was crying? What am I going to do to keep her in bed? Do I need to put her back in the crib?

What have I gotten myself into?!

Both girls crawl now. Katya is really fast and Cali gets faster and faster everyday. She can now crawl across the room without stopping. I can't turn my back without one getting into something. I know about baby proofing, but I've done as much as I can in the small apartment we live in. They are also starting to play mischievously together. It's way cute, but it's trouble. I don't know what I've gotten myself into with having two kids that crawl opposite ways at once and have learned how to get into things. Let's hope that I can keep my sanity though all this. I don't know how people handle twins or other multiples.

Why am I so excited for this week?

1. Jethro has no class in Provo
2. Cool nights
3. Cali crawls
   
4. Scouts
5. Tons of tomatoes for yummy spaghetti sauce
6. Good books to read
7. Scentsy candles
8. Relatively clean house
   

Play date

There was an activity for our ward's playgroup yesterday- a pool party. It was a blast. Katya loved the water and all the kids. Cali, well, the kids and people she liked, but not the water.

One messy eater

Cali is developing her talents. She is eating 3rd foods, cheerios, and loves biter biscuits. She now has to sit in a high chair because she crawls. She is quickly becoming as messy an eater as Katya. Because she is just adorable, I couldn't help putting up lots of pics. You don't have to look at them all though.

Sometimes I feel like I live on a farm...

I love where we live and I am so glad that we have a garden. It has brought us so many wonderful vegetables and I love it. Some days I look at our haul and feel like I live on a farm.

This is only part of 3 rows. We still have 6 rows left.

After shucking and cutting all the corn off the cobs.

43 cups worth of corn.

The corn this year is so good. The ears were so much fuller and so sweet. Yummy! I can't wait to have this to eat throughout the fall and winter.

Another year older

Jethro and I have come to an understanding, thanks to Kristi. In May 2008 she wrote about she tells her husband exactly what she wants for her birthday/Mother's Day/Anniversary so there are no guessing games and everyone ends up happy. It was such a brilliant idea and since Jethro can't read minds and I have crazy ideas and high expectations, we figured that that was the best way for us to do it too. My birthday being the first time we tried it, I'd have to say that it worked well and I was happy with the birthday plans and Jethro was happy that he didn't have to guess for once. It was fabulous and even with all my plans, Jethro was wonderful enough to throw in a few surprises.

Jethro was supposed to be in training all day Thursday, but got finished early. Because of that nothing was my plan and all was a surprise.

Brought me my favorite Cherry Limeade with extra cherry.

Took the girls to see it after their nap. Pretty Good.

Best brownies ever. Picked up a box from Costco and made

me dinner with these for dessert.

Love these chocolates. Bought me a whole box of dark chocolates. YUM!

Friday was the day for our plans because all Jethro had was a meeting in the morning. Morning meeting canceled so he got to stay home. Nice surprise. Rebekah was nice enough to watch the girls so we could go out.

Picked up lunch in Park City.



Took some pics. Aren't those cool statues?

Ate lunch at the park. I love this blue house.

The one thing I really wanted to do was go over Guardsman Pass. I'd heard that it was really pretty and I really wanted to check it out. It didn't disappoint.

Looking down at Park City

Beautiful Birch forests

Looking down at Heber/Midway

Just a beautiful view

Eating out super yummy cheesecake we picked up
at the Cheesecake Factory

On our way back down, we stopped at Silver Lake. The weather was fabulous and cool and is was so nice to be able to spend some alone time with Jethro.

Our little friend. There were a ton of them everywhere. He
wanted to hang out with us so he got real close.

Thanks Jethro for the fabulous birthday and being willing to execute my crazy plans. I love you.