Month: August 2009

There will be more pictures of this later, probably about a month from now…

My cute nephews playing at the park on the 4th of July

After the 4th weekend, we started the week off fresh by going to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. The neatest thing about this zoo is all the hands on exhibits. The kids loved it!

We started off by feeding the giraffes. They were so cute and fuzzy!

Here’s Tasha feeding a cracker to her giraffe

They’re so cute, but man their tongues are UGLY! Long, black and slimy.

Mr. Elephant

Tasha touching her first snake

Wallabys, wallabys everywhere!

Kevin’s froggy face on the froggy

The day after the zoo, we went to a place called “Lil Biggs” where we had lunch and then played for over an hour. It’s perfect for younger kids. The whole place is like a miniature village with a small grocery store with food and carts, a jail and firehouse, a musical room, a huge sandbox, a bouncy house, etc. A kids paradise, basically. Tasha stayed mainly in with all the babydolls and baby equipment, while Kevin had fun in the bouncy house.

Baby musician

Christina showing her skills

Annika found a friend

Paging Dr. Manning

Auntie n Annika having some fun!

Tasha in baby heaven!

The silly cousins all enjoying their ice cream

was….spending a week at the Narayans house in Colorado Springs (to visit Ammon’s oldest sis and her fam). We had fun-filled, very busy week of activities. I don’t have all the pics at the moment and will have to post the rest later.

The first full day we had, we went to Helen Falls and hiked a little and had a picnic above the falls. There was a great view from the top and the falls were beautiful.

The falls itself

Annika and Papa playing in the gift shop

The kids spotted a butterfly on the ground in the parking lot and were mesmerized

Here’s the butterfly up close

Here’s the oldest two and I enjoying the view (and a break)

The cousins hanging out at the waters edge, throwing in rocks and whatever else they could find

Some cute people we found at the waters edge….Christina and Malika

The next day was the 4th of July and we had the yummiest bbq ever. At the moment, this is the only pic I have of that day.

She was spontaneously playing with this flag and I thought, oh perfect photo opportunity….if only my camera was a little faster!

There was lots of playing going on the whole while we were visiting. Two of my favorite shots:

My cute little batman boy

Tasha came upstairs like this and I about jumped out of my skin! Creepy Tasha!!!!!

Kevin is still and will probably always be the class clown. He loves to be silly, silly, silly and make us laugh, even when we don’t want to (like at bedtime, or at church). Here are few shots of his big personality:

How about this stylin’ combo? Can’t you see this on the runways in Paris?

I’m noticing a trend here….

This picture has a story and it was so one of those “you had to be there” moments to truly appreciate the hilarity. For a month or so, Annika developed this high-pitched shriek to express just about any emotion, except happiness. One morning at breakfast, she was particularily vocal. I had gone upstairs and came back down to find Kevin nonchalantly eating his breakfast like this. =) “Annika was hurting my ears”, says Kevin. Good on you Kevy!

I work with the girls ages 12-18 at church and every summer, they have a week of camp. They learn first aid/cpr, go on hikes, swim, have spiritual speakers and activities and complete tasks. It’s a fun-filled week and this year I was privileged to go to two days of camp.

When we got there it was just starting to rain and it poured for about 4 hours off and on, with only a few minutes break. We were beginning to wonder what why we came, but we soon found out. We had so much fun watching the girls and getting to know them better. We played silly games with them like silent football (nothing to do with actual football, but ends in the group deciding a little “dare” for one person to complete….I got to be a gorilla…long story!), sang songs, ate with them and performed service for other groups.

The most amazing part was to hear their testimonies of their knowledge of the Savior, Jesus Christ and his love for them. They have such great faith and at a young age. The testimony meeting was held by a lake, lit up by mini lighthouses and each time someone finished telling us their feelings/thoughts about the Lord and his gospel in their life, they’d light a candle and place it in a tiny wooden boat and put it on the water. By the end, the effect was breathtaking; all these little lights on the water. An experience not to be forgotten….

Anna trying to chop wood….

Chrissy riding the pony

Chowing down

Getting their individual awards like….

The smiliest camper…

The prankster

The nut!

And well….we won’t tell you what this one was, but you can see it’s a good one by her reaction!

Getting made up after losing out on silent football…I got to be a vamped out gorilla to the next camp over from us….

Leaders making hawaiian haystacks for 25 people

The cabin we didn’t get to sleep in!

Lauren attacking our girls….they were simulating an emergency situation

I took this a while back. The kids were being super-cute in the tub and I had to take a pic. Annika adores baths and tries all the time to climb in to the tub, even when it’s not bathtime.

Thanks go out to Kevin for a strategically placed foot! =)

(I’m backtracking…remember?) Natasha had a great 5th birthday party, though it got off to a hairy start. I don’t remember much of earlier in the day, except that it was a crazy, hectic day and I was running around attempting to get everything done. I continued to do so right up until….ok…..after, the guests arrived. Tasha had 7 little friends over and they had a blast keeping the balloons up in the air, playing pin the tail on the donkey and chasing Ammon all over the house.

She had requested a butterfly theme, so they colored butterflies, a butterfly cake and with their grilled cheese, had butterfly jello, ants on a log and grape caterpillars. She and the guests were very pleased with their butterfly-ish food. =) Some fun presents were received, although the play make-up she got has remained high up in a linen closet, hopefully never to be found 😉

Here are photos of the days festivities:

Tasha and her guests

Tasha pinning the tail….how’d she do?

Tasha trying hard not to smile at the camera

My creation

Opening her loot

Well, a friend of mine had told me that rag curls work great in straight hair that doesn’t like to be curled. I had been promising Tasha that I would try it out in her hair for a while, so finally in June, we did it. She was such a good little guinea pig and slept in them and everything.

She looked like a little Shirley Temple with her curls. They were really tight at first, but softened quite a lot and looked so pretty. Unfortunately for you and for me, I got home from church after the kids that day to discover that she had washed/brushed out her curls. =( I’ll just have to do it again for a picture!

I’m so behind in my blogging, it’s ridiculous, so you’ll have to go back in time a few months here.

After our trip to California. We had one week at home and then had Ammon’s oldest sis, Christina, her munchkins and her father-in-law, Hari come to visit. We had a busy, fun-filled week with them and all the cousins were in their glory. They played until they dropped. I’ll have more pics to post later, but at the moment, I just have these….

Stylin’ the high heels….oh yes, even the boys! I guess princess shoes are cool for everyone!

We had ice cream sundae’s for our family home evening treat. Everyone made their own.

Yesterday, Miss Natasha came to me and said, “Mom, my tooth hurts.” I thought that was a strange thing to be hurting, so I had her show me which one. Low and behold, the girl is losing her first tooth! The front right one is so loose that I can practically bend it all the way forward and all the way back and there underneath I can see/feel her big adult tooth. How crazy is that?! She just turned 5. I don’t remember losing my teeth that early, but apparently it’s normal for girls. She can’t wait for it to totally fall out so the tooth fairy will come! Luckily, she doesn’t understand the value of money yet, ’cause she ain’t getting no $1 per baby tooth. Some parents these days do like $5 for a tooth. Hello…..it’s cool, but it’s a TOOTH!

On Saturday, while I was away at a church Youth Conference, Annika took her first step!!!!!! She stood up and Ammon held his arms out toward her and she took a step and then kind of threw herself into his arms. Luckily, she very kindly demonstrated for me again on Sunday. I’ll have to get a pic to go with this post….