it's been over a year...

 Here are some highlights from the past several months:

Josh graduated from Pharmacy school!  Yeah!

Mother's day with my two sweet girls.

Aunt Taylee's wedding--nicely holding her dress everywhere she goes.

with cousins.  good thing we saw them all this summer, cause it's going to be a while before we get together again.

We moved to Spokane.  It's beautiful.

4th of July. Someone wasn't happy.  But at least we got to be in a parade.

Aunt Leslie's wedding--my girls fought over who got to stand next to Leslie in the pictures, so once again, someone wasn't happy.

 

My little girl is all grown up and off to kindergarten!  She loves it for the most part.  Mainly she just loves riding the bus, eating snacks, recess, and seeing friends.  the learning parts not so much.

At the bus stop on a good day--oh wait, jacqui is still in jammies.

Baby Grant arrives in our family--such a cutie!!!

Halloween: our little tiger

a cute cowgirl, before braiding her hair.  sorry adrienne, I forgot to take your picture.  whoops.

there you are, minus the costume, but with a cute baby.  you are always so helpful and even change diapers sometimes!

Jacqui's turn: she finally thinks he's cute (when I first said he was cute, she corrected me and said, "no, he's cool".)  she loves snuggling him now and seems to have gotten over the major jealousy of not being the baby anymore.

Our first snow here in Spokane: they couldn't wait to play in it--notice how Jacqui is in her rainboots and jammies!

After school--making snow angels, until they realized that it's not quite the right snow for it.  then they tried to have a snowball fight. it was awesome.

giving baby grant a bath. so helpful that I had to re-rinse his legs after getting him out due to too much soap!

Kindergarten Thanksgiving play: my little wampanog indian!

Happy 6th Birthday!  we attempted a doll cake like I used to have when I was little--it's not near as elaborate though.  

 

opening a present wrapped in a diaper box.  she wasn't too thrilled at first.

things we should do and things we shouldn't do

So, obviously I need to update this blog.  I have a lot of fun pics to post from all our fun goings on this summer.  But until I do that, I thought I needed to document Adrienne's list of things we should do and things we shouldn't do:
#1 don't smoke
#2 don't drink coffee
#3 choose the right
#4 have a lot of birthdays
#5 listen to where you're going
#6 be happy where your parents take you
#7 don't complain
#8 listen to your parents
#9 listen to your uncle
#10 don't ruin things
#11 don't complain about your house or your room
#12 have fun at preschool
#13 only moms and dads fast
#14 show your friends that you're being nice to them
#15 don't be mean
She was explaining these to her sister this morning (as she looked at her paper chain we made of the quorum of the 12 and first presidency during conference).  Awesome.
More to come as soon as I get all my pics on my computer...

Happy 4th of July!

The 4th of July was quite eventful here in Reno for us...

 We started out by getting up super early...we got to the hot air balloon line at 6:15 am--they were offering FREE (tethered) rides. 

 We stood in line for 2 hours--almost got to the front--and then we were told that they wouldn't get to us.  So we wandered off to see what else we could do.  Then they kept the balloons going until the FOUR groups after us got on.  I was quite upset and tired and ornery by then.  Good thing the girls were more easy to appease.  Someone was handing out free balloons and they were happy.  It took me a bit longer to get over it...  At least we all got a nap when we got home!

We later went swimming, played games, and went to watch the fireworks from a distant park.  Sad that we didn't have a parade.  Oh, and apparently here, a "pancake breakfast" is just that--pancakes.  We ended up paying $3 per person for 2 pancakes and a drink--I miss the good old hometown breakfasts and parades! 

happy birthday fun

So, it was Josh's birthday last week.  We decided to take a drive to the mountains and hang out for the day.  We spent a few hours at an old crystal mine digging for crystals--pretty cool!  Then we had a little campout dinner.  It was a lot of fun!  Next time we'll have to stay overnight! 



showing off her giant pine cone

having fun in the mountains

 

not having fun in the mountains..







birthday boy and his cake



family photo

 We got our picture taken at a recent ward party/young women's camp fundraiser.  Not great....but at least they both smiled!

 

killer whale and painted baby

So, we have been going to our apartment pool quite a bit lately... The girls have a fun time swimming with their floaties and have gotten pretty brave, considering that a few weeks ago they wouldn't let go of me or the side of the pool.  The are, however, terrified of the tile whale on the bottom of the pool.  When Jacqui realizes that she is too close to it, she starts paddling her little feet as fast as she can and cries, "the whale's gonna eat me!"  It is so funny!

 

The other night, while I was at a Primary Presidency meeting, the girls were playing in their playroom and found markers--this is the result!  Surprisingly, there was only one little mark on her white shirt.  I'm just glad they were washable--but they still took a few days to fade. 

 Sorry, I took all these pics on my low quality cell phone camera...

Saturday Fun...

Our latest adventures were last Saturday.  We went swimming in our pool--the girls had so much fun and are getting braver (not holding on to me or Josh every second anymore!).  They had fun pretending to be mermaids--so cute!  Then we packed a picnic lunch and headed off to a fun park.  After we ate, we rode on a little train ride that goes around a small lake at the park.  Pretty fun--too bad I never remember to take any pics.  Then we fed the ducks and played on the playground.  We wore the girls right out!  On the way home, we passed a guy riding a bike.  He was wearing a tie-dye shirt and had a ponytail.  I thought nothing of it.  Adrienne pipes up, "so, I know that's a human.....but is it a girl human or a boy human?"  She cracks us up with funny, innocent comments like that all the time.  I'll have to keep track of them on this blog.
All in all, an eventful day....and plenty of humans and non-humans to see!

some recent photos...

Funny girls in matching jammies

Jacqui on Easter Sunday

Adrienne on Easter Sunday

cute girls standing by the apricot trees (see the popcorn?!)

starting out....

So, we're finally joining the blogging world.  I have held out as long as possible, but now that we're not living close to family and friends, I figured it was time.  We are getting used to being in Reno and I am sort of getting to know my way around.  The girls have pretty much settled in too.  The other day, Adrienne said to me, "mom, I like Reno best because of play group and they have a fun library."  I guess we'll be fine then!  We've made a few friends and are enjoying our ward.  We get to speak in a few weeks.  Hmmm...   Josh is really enjoying his rotations, and I actually get to see him more now than before!  I will try to figure out how to post pics and everything too.  We shall see!