July 4th Festivities - Horseback Riding/First Movie

I'm including this with the July 4th stuff because to me it was all one long weekend of fun. After the BBQ Monday night, Ricci invited us to go horseback riding with she and her mom Tuesday morning. Her grandpa has horses, and Kalianna has been obsessed with horses lately. We had talked about doing it, and with her mom in town from Georgia, this seemed like the perfect opportunity. So instead of driving all the way home that night, we stopped at my parent's house and put the girls to bed there instead. Since we hadn't planned on staying the night, Matt continued home to pick up clothes, diapers, and the dogs for the next day. He ended up driving to Layton and back twice that night to make sure we had everything for the following morning. He is such a sweetheart! I fell asleep after his first trip, or I would have discouraged him from going back again! Tuesday morning I had to wake the girls up, but Kalianna was super excited when I told her where we were going.

We got there and at first Kalianna was really nervous. She said "no like big horse". She loves horses, but this was her first time (that she could remember) seeing them up close. But once she pet one and saw how nice they were, she seemed okay. Ricci's grandpa has a really old horse named Barney who is super sweet. He loves to snuggle and be pet. And he loved Kalianna! He kept following her around and trying to snuggle up to her. She enjoyed petting Barney and warmed up to him pretty quick. Then Ricci got on Snap to go for a ride. Kalianna almost fell out of my arms trying to get to her! She was super worried for Ricci! We put her on the horse with Ricci and they rode around together, and she was fine after that. As soon as we tried to take her off the horse, and she realized Ricci wasn't getting off too, she became hysterical. We let her feed a couple of the horses some carrots and she really liked that! Then when Mommy went for a ride, it was the same thing all over again. She was fine as long as she was on the horse with me. But me being on the horse by myself, she was terrified for my safety! It was like she was trying to protect us. If she was with us, we were okay. Funny girl!

We went back to my parents house and fed the girls lunch, then some much-needed naps. Matt and I decided to take advantage of the rare opportunity of the girls being at my parent's house and we had leftover breast milk from Saturday with us, so we decided to stay another night and go on a much needed date. He took me to a yummy dinner at Red Lobster and then we went for a drive. We wanted to do a movie too, but we got a late start and with Magdalyn's feeding schedule, none of the ones we wanted to see worked out. So we drove up to Layton to get more stuff to get us through the next day. It was nice getting some alone time for once!

Wednesday the girls and I hung out at the house and took it easy. Ricci was there too. After several nights in a row of being up too late, the girls finally got a good nights sleep. Once Kalianna went down for a nap, Ricci and I worked on cards for card group. That afternoon, my parents wanted to take the grand kids to a movie. Kalianna had never been to a movie before. Ever. She is a very active little girl and doesn't sit still for very long. So I wasn't sure how she would do having to sit still in a theater for over an hour. But I figured it was worth a shot. And it seemed like an opportune time to try it, since there were seven adults for the five kids. Logan and Bryan got off work in time to join us. Poor Matt had to work late. =( So it was my parents, Logan, Kristine, and their 3 boys, plus Bryan, Ricci, me, and the 2 girls.

We went and saw Cars 2. It went about how I expected. Grandpa bought some popcorn and icees for the kids. Kalianna enjoyed her snacks and sat on my lap through the previews, commenting on each one. My mom held Maggie the whole time. Who was actually awake and wide-eyed for most of it. Now normally I think bringing a baby to the movies is stupid, but I wanted to be there for Kalianna's first movie, and I figured she would do the best with me anyway. So I chose to be selfish and took Magdalyn along. She was great though!

Cars is one of Kali's favorite movies at home, but we only watch about 20-30 minutes of it at a time. So about 20 minutes into the movie she said "All done" and tried to get down. Grandpa took her for a walk and then they came back a little bit later. She really didn't like the loud explosions and blowing stuff up (it's a spy movie). She kept saying "No like fireworks". She did pretty well, we took a couple more walks during the movie, but I think she did well for her first time. Especially taking into consideration her attention span for movies. By the end she was very ready to go. But all the next day she kept saying "go see Cars", so I know she liked it. Cars 2 was definitely for an older audience than the first one, so I'm sure that added to it as well. When we got back to my parent's, I fed Magdalyn and Matt helped Bryan with some stuff, getting us home late once again. We've just been home the last two days, and although we had a ton of fun, it's so nice to be back to our normal routines again!

July 4th Festivities - BBQ

We had no plans for July 4th up until a couple days before. So we were thrilled when my sister asked if we wanted to come over for a BBQ. We were all a bit off on Sunday since we had gotten home so late. Then we were busy all day Monday getting things done and running errands. Monday afternoon we headed down to Eagle Mountain and joined the rest of my family at Kristine and Logan's house for a yummy BBQ. The little kids played in the pool and with water balloons while the older kids (aka adults) ate yummy food and talked about So You Think You Can Dance. Kalianna absolutely loves playing with her cousins! She was so excited to have so many kids to play with! She especially seems to love Cagney, who is actually my six-year-old cousin. Cagney plays really cute with her and helps her with everything.

After dinner, a bunch of us walked down to the park and watched while the little ones continued to play. Kalianna was the youngest one there (not counting the babies). She just loved chasing the big kids all over. They would run off and do something and she would chase after them, with all her little two-year-old might saying, "go with kids". She had an absolute ball!

When it started to get dark, we headed back to their house for fireworks. Kalianna loves to watch the fireworks, but she really doesn't like how loud some of them are. She started out with headphones on, to hopefully help some of the problem, but after one really big one went off, she was done. She kept saying, "No like fireworks!" She didn't mind watching them a little bit from the kitchen window, but she didn't care much either way. She preferred playing with Cagney in the basement with all her cousin's toys.

July 4th Festivities - Stadium of Fire

What started out as a simple weekend, turned into one adventure after another for our little family. We ended up having a super fun weekend (week) but it's nice to be home now!

Saturday night Ricci and I went to Stadium of Fire again this year. Brad Paisley was performing, so we really didn't have a choice in the matter. Brad Paisley is one of my favorite country singers and he is actually the one who got me into country music in the first place. I always hated country until someone played me a couple of Brad's songs one day. Shortly after, I moved to Logan to attend USU and learned how to western swing. The rest is history. So I was super excited when Ricci told me who was performing this year! David Archuleta also performed, and although he has a really good voice, I don't know any of his songs. I was there to see Brad!

Saturday ended up being a super crazy day! We finally headed down to Provo around 5:00 and grabbed arches on the way. We met Bryan and Ricci at their apartment. Matt and Bryan watched the girls while Ricci and I went to party. Don't we have the best husbands? I scarfed my dinner and then we met up with my parents to carpool to the stadium. We didn't have seats together, but we figured why bring two cars? We parked about a mile from the stadium (closer than last year) and got into our seats just in time for it to start.

They had some awesome parachuters land right on the field this year. The last one, however, biffed it. Poor guy! How embarrassing would that be?! He was super graceful until the very end. He took out a person and a railing when he hit the ground. Then the military rushed over to rescue the american flag he was carrying. The fly-over is always cool, but I have to admit, since moving to Layton they don't thrill me like they used to. Then the dancers started and then some local entertainment.

Finally David Archuleta came out and performed a few songs. Ricci and I were sitting in an area surrounded by David fans. Tons of teenage girls and little families, all singing along. Ricci and I enjoyed his performance, but we couldn't join in with the singing. He seems like a cute kid. Still a bit awkward on stage, but cute. Then Brad came out and the singing began! Both Ricci and I knew every song and we sang and moved with the music. All the teenage girls who were freaking out only moments before, suddenly became very quiet. It was obvious who they had come to see. They looked bored through most of Brad's songs and kept looking at us like we were nuts. Good times! I actually took some video of Brad performing one of my favorite songs "She's Everything", but you can hear me singing along with it. I will spare all your ears and not post it.

Brad's performance was way too short, if you ask me. I could have listened to him for another hour! But it was getting late and dark and the little boy behind us kept asking, "is this the last song?" So for his sake, I'm glad the fireworks began. The firework show did not disappoint! It was awesome and lots of fun! Once the show was over, we booked it down the stadium steps (we were basically at the top) to meet my parents again. Once we finally got through the crowds and walked all the way back to our car, it took almost another hour to get to Bryan and Ricci's apartment. I fed Magdalyn and then we headed home. Getting there around 2:00am. Very long, but very fun night!

Twiners?

Happy Independence Day! People tell me constantly how much Magdalyn looks like Kalianna. To me, they look completely different! I think it's obvious they are sisters, but I think their features are totally different. Well here is the test. I have a picture of each girl, wearing the same outfit around the same age. Tell me what you think.

Kalianna July 4, 2009

Magdalyn July 4, 2011

A Day at the Zoo

On Wednesday Ricci and I took the girls to the zoo. We stayed the night at my parent's house Tuesday night so we could be up and ready when the zoo opened. I've never gotten to the zoo when it first opened before. And I will never go any other time now! It was perfect! It wasn't crowded, it was perfect weather (not too hot yet), and the animals were a lot more active than I have ever seen. I wish I had gotten some pictures of the leopard and the tigers, but I was nursing when we were over in that area and didn't have my camera out. They were super active and came right up to the glass. Kalianna was ecstatic! She even asked if she could go swimming with the tigers. Ummm....no.

She loved seeing all the animals, and remembered many of them from when my parents took her. She would ask for the next one, as we walked through the park, naming each animal we saw and making their corresponding noise. Magdalyn slept through much of the trip, not that we were expecting anything else. But thankfully it was cool enough I didn't have to worry much about her getting too hot.

Kalianna wanted to see the elephants first. They are a favorite of hers. After looking at the elephants she wanted to go see the big elephant statue that shoots water. Well it sneezed right as she got up to it, scaring the crap out of the poor girl. She jumped so high! After that, she didn't want to go near any of the animal statues. Not even the dinosaurs, which she normally loves. Dumb elephant almost gave the poor girl a heart attack!

When we first got to the zoo and walked passed the merry-go-round, Kalianna ran right up to it and kept saying she wanted to ride the animals. It hadn't opened yet, so I tried explaining this to her. She didn't understand, so I finally had to tell her it was broken and we continued to walk around. When we were almost done and started walking back toward the entrance, Kalianna could see the merry-go-round going from the bottom of the hill. She squealed, "It working!" and took off running for it. She even squeezed passed the people waiting in line and was just about to sneak her way onto the ride when I caught up. I reached over the railing and had to pull her back. It was pretty funny! She was so excited and so sweet about it, asking "pweeze!" that I gave in and bought her a ticket. She picked the elephant to ride on. Once I set her on the elephant's back, the look of pure joy on her face was priceless. Huge grin from ear to ear! I joked with Ricci afterward that after spending a couple hours looking at real animals, it was the fake ones that brought the biggest smile to her face.

It started getting quite warm and we had seen everything, so we took off around 11:30. Then we picked up some lunch and went to WesTech to eat with Matt and Bryan. Super fun day! I just love summertime!