Quintana Family

Fall Fun

2011-11-21T05:38:00.000-08:00

Of course what kid does not want to jump in a pile of leaves. So, I raked a big pile for the girls to play in while I cleaned up all the other leaves. I so enjoy watching them have fun together and playing so well. They covered each other up in the leaves and then I covered them both up. They jumped in them and threw them all over the place. Just having fun in the leaves.

Off to the Dentist we go

2011-10-21T22:13:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth had her 1st dentist appointment and of course passed with flying colors. She had no cavities and so her photo was taken and she was put on the no cavity club board. She sat very still for the x-rays, cleaning, polishing and the exam. Nate took her x-rays, Kenny cleaned her teeth and Dr.Brett came and did her exam. She just sat back and watched TV. No big deal for her but she does know all of these wonderful people. Glad to have such great professionals taking care of my little Elizabeth. She got her goodie bag with a new toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, timer, sticker and a coin to get a prize.

Circus came into town and Elizabeth turned 3

2011-10-21T21:16:00.000-07:00

WHAT A PARTY!!! She woke up to a bedroom full of balloons and she got to open one gift. She opened her gift from her sister which was a TinkerBell playset.

Once we got home from school, everything turned to crap and I was in a terrible mood. I was trying to set up and it started to rain. I was stuck outside under a canopy until the rain stopped. It was nice the day before the party and for a week after the party, but it had to rain the day of. I kept going back and forth with having the party inside or outside. Finally 1hr before the party I decided to have it outside. I had to set up the popcorn machine, snow cone machine, food, cake, decorations and games. I had made the cotton candy the day before.

Once the guests arrived we ate some yummy food and then played the games. We had Ring Toss, Knock down the cans, Bean Bag Toss and Tight Rope Walk; I made all the games myself. I had big plans for where the games were going to be and made banners but the rain had a say in that. I am very thankful that it did not rain once the party started. The kids had so much fun playing the games and getting all their loot.

Then we ate cake and ice cream; I also made the cake. Once we were finishing up with that our special guest arrived...Bobber The Clown. OMG, he was FANTASTIC. We were all laughing so much. He got the kids involved in the act. During his show he ended up giving Elizabeth; $5.50, a stuffed bunny and bear, princess wand, GC to a restaurant, made her a cake during his show, a photo of him and of course made everyone balloons. I would have him back anytime, he was great. After his show it was getting late and we decided to move inside to open gifts.

She got so many wonderful gifts; Ariel costume, shoes and crown; Aurora costume, crown and shoes; princess books, Earth book, Squinkies, Littest Pet Shop, Princess Celestia Horse, Balloon flip flops, TinkerBell hair bows, Baby Doll, Barbie Car with Barbie, Princess make-up kit, TinkerBell hat and gloves, chalk board, Fancy Nancy Doll, Princess Magic cupcakes and a Glo-E bear.

I was so thankful that the rain stopped, Bobber was so great, my friends were fantastic and that my little Elizabeth had a blast. I cannot believe that she is already 3. I have no idea where time has gone but I will say that we are having the time of our lives. It seems like yesterday I found out we were pregnant with her. She is such a joy to be around, always wanting to do everything her sister is doing. She has an attitude and when things do not go her way she is crabby but I still just want to pinch her little butt. She weighs 34lbs - 50th percentile, height 34.75 inches - 75th percentile and her BMI is in the 75th percentile. She got one shot and did not even know that it happened. Took her to Toys R Us, Stone Cold and Red Robin for all her free birthday gifts. I am just so thankful that she is in our lives and that we get to call her our own. I love you, Elizabeth Angelina Quintana.

Having fun at the Fair

2011-10-21T20:59:00.000-07:00

The Utah State Fair came and as always we went to have fun. Our good friends the Shafer's came and played too. We ate elephant ears, ice cream, cotton candy, caramel apples, pizza, kettle corn and other good junk. The girls played with legos, saw some taxidermy, ducks that were prisoners and one sheriff, an Australian animal show and the Sea Lion show. Then we went down the BIG slide and it was so fun, we had a race and just laughed the whole time. The kids played on the farm and rode on some rides and then the wind started to blow like crazy. Good thing we were done and headed home. It was so fun and we love being with our friends.

August 22, 2011 1st day of school

2011-10-11T19:51:00.000-07:00

1st day of school for Victoria and her 2nd year at Challenger. Elizabeth's 1st day and 1st year at Challenger. Victoria's teacher is Mrs. Steph and we LOVE her. Elizabeth has Mrs. Adina and Mrs. Kim, whom Victoria had last year and we LOVE them. All 3 teacher were so glad to have our girls in their class rooms and we were lucky to have them as their teachers. It is such an incredible school and I am so happy that our girls go there.

Elizabeth's 1st Haircut

2011-10-11T19:44:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth had her 1st official haircut just before school started. Of course Auntie Kari cut her hair and she did great for her. She let Auntie wash her hair, cut it and then style it. Then she got candy. Such a beautiful little girl.

Having too much fun

2011-08-04T14:18:00.000-07:00

We have been having so much fun this Summer and to tell you the truth, it is has been so fun that I don't take photos. We have been to the Zoo, Parks, Aviary, Swimming, Parties, Bowling, Fundraisers to save the Endagered Animals and so much more. It has been a great Summer.

But we did take some phots and these are photos of the best family ever. We LOVE the Linford family and are so luck to have them as our friends. Wished we could get together every week. It had been a few months since we saw them last and Victoria was on the verge of crying if she did not get to see Mckay soon. We went to the Zoo and had a blast. Have fun looking at the photos.

Swimming Lessons

2011-08-04T14:01:00.000-07:00

I signed Victoria up for Private lesson with Chelsea. She is a great instructor and Victoria needed one on one attention. Within 2 classes she was putting her head under the water. She had 6 classes with Chelsea and by the end she was floating on her back by herself and totally immersion ofher body. She was getting really good at jumping in and pushing herself to the top. She was great with her pushing off the wall on her tummy and swimming to Chelsea. I was so proud of her.

Instructor Chelsea

Swimming towards to Chelsea

Jumped in and totally submerged

Elizabeth and I took a class together and she was happy to start off and then once she had to put her head under the water she wanted nothing to do with that. By the end of classes she was blowing bubbles and putting her mouth in the water. She was really good with her tummy float and almost doing it by herself. She would kick her legs and move her arms while on her tummy. I was very proud of her from going to not blowing bubbles to do it and loving it.

Instructor Gavin

Tummy float with blowing bubbles

Aviary and Liberty Park

2011-08-04T13:48:00.000-07:00

In Utah there is a huge park in Downtown Salt Lake City, called Liberty Park. They have an Aviary, swimming pool, tennis courts, lake with boats, birds to feed, rides, food, play grounds and water falls that you can play in. We finally bought a years pass to the Aviary.

My girls are being eaten by a pelican

My little owls

Flying the planes

Girls night with one boy

2011-08-04T13:08:00.001-07:00

Great friends of ours and us decided that we were going to have a girls' night, and Jonah, and have fun. I made a nacho to eat and brought rootbeer floats. Annie made YUMMY cucakes. We ate some late night food and then I decided that we would have a race with the kids. They had to clean up the house and Annie and I had to clean the kitchen, whoever won got to frost the losers' faces. Well, Annie and I lost but that is ok. The kids LOVED painting our faces with frosting. It was so much fun to just let loose and have fun. We had a puzzle race and my girls won. Then we sat and watched a movie and just talked. It was so good to be with great friends. Love the Palmer family.

Before the 'fun"

Annie and her kids

Me and my girls

Saving Endangered Animals

2011-06-14T08:49:00.000-07:00

The end of 2010 Victoria saw a commercial about saving endangered animals. She came to me and told me all about saving them. I told her that she needed to save her money and she could send it to them. So, she got her Sister involved too and started to ask me, Papa and Mamaw for all our change. Then I asked them this year if they wanted to do a bake sale to raise money for the animals. Of course they did. Victoria was asking people if they wanted to buy cookies, fudge or lemonade to save the animals. They have had 3 fundraisers so far and have made $384 so far. Victoria set a goal of $700 and they are ovr half way there. They have sold cupcakes, brownies, cookies, fudge and homemade lemonade. I am just so proud of the both of them for thinking of others when they are so young. They love to tell people of what they are doing and they are proud of what they are doing too.

If you would like to help them they have a website set up where you can donate any amount.

wwf.worldwildlife.org/goto/quintanagirls

A close call

2011-05-16T23:14:00.000-07:00

The girls were running around the house. I kept telling them to stop running in the house. I was trying to make dinner and I heard a loud thud and Elizabeth let out a blood curdling cry. I grabbed her and she was bleeding very badly from her mouth. I gave her a cold wash cloth and then some water to wash away the blood so I could see where it was coming from. She had a big gash in her bottom lip and her upper tooth was bleeding at the gum line. I ran her to Dr.Mike to have her checked out. He said that if I wanted to stitch her lip I could but he would not and it will close up but she was on a very thin line of needing a few stitches had it been any deeper. He x-rayed her tooth to look for fractures and luckily there were none. Her tooth had some mobility but it would tighten back up. He did not think that there was enough trama to it to turn it dark. I was so stressed that she would lose her tooth and need stitches. This girl is going to kill me. She just had an accident a week ago and now this. AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!

This is her lip but it is a lot worse in person. It is all purple and black from blood. She had to go to bed without sucking her thumb in fear that she may move the tooth. She had to eat dinner on the side of her mouth and she did so good doing it. Could not brush it tonight and just lightly tomorrow and Wed good to go I hope. I will have it checked again probably Wed. We are so blessed to have Dr.Mike in our life and I don't know what we would do without him.

Spring School Program

2011-05-16T23:04:00.000-07:00

Miss Adina

Miss Kim

Victoria had her Spring program at school and she sang so well. She was not quite like her Winter program and she had a lot of fun. They sang about 20 songs and then showed off some skills with numbers and logic. It was fun to watch her. One of their songs they danced with partners. After the program she took her Sister to all her friends and introduced her to them. She is such a little social butterfly and I love it.

Mother's Day Weekend

2011-05-16T22:43:00.000-07:00

Saturday I taught the girls to slide down the stairs in a laundry basket and on a silky blanket. They were having so much fun and laughing so hard. I went to take a video of them but they saw me. I wanted it to be candid so I did not take it. I continued to do laundry and then I heard...thud thud thud followed by screaming. I was afraid to look at what had happened in fear of seeing tangled bodies and broken bones. But I did look and Elizabeth had blood coming from both nostrils and her mouth. I was panicing and called Dr.Mike. In the process of all this poor Victoria said that I did not care about her because I was not paying attention to her. I told her I am worried about her but she was not bleeding. We saw Dr.Mike and he said her nose was not broke and that she took a chunk out of her cheek and bite her lip. Later that day she had carpet burn on her nose and she hurt.

The next day was Mother's Day and my girls woke me up telling me Happy Mother's Day. Victoria made me a beautiful card at school that made me cry. Papa and the girls bought me matching necklace, earrings and a ring. They have 2 garents and 1 pink sapphire. We went to brunch at Gardner Village and ate some great food. It was a wonderful day.

Riding a Bike

2011-05-16T22:10:00.000-07:00

It was finally nice enough for me to let the girls out and play. They have been waiting to learn to ride a bike. Elizabeth was outside ready to go. She does not have a helmet yet so she was riding on the deck. She picked it up really quickly and had a blast.

It all started with some seed

2011-05-16T22:06:00.000-07:00

Victoria brought home this cup that she had grown some grass in at school. When she 1st brought it home it was barely above the cup and a week later this is what we had. She made sure to put the cup in sun light and watered it. Now, she wants to plant her grass in the back yard.

Nurse Hercules

2011-05-16T22:01:00.000-07:00

Victoria started to wheez one day and had a hard time breathing so I took her to the Dr. They took her pulse and oxygen and it was high. Her heart rate was really high and her oxygen was low. So, they gave her some Tylenol, she had a slight fever, and then took everything again about 30mins later and no change. They gave her a breathing treatment and steriod and still no change. I was sent home with an inhaler and steriods she had to take for 3 days. Plus both the girls had strep. So, the next day there was Hercules staying be his Sister's side making sure she was OK. The girls rough him up and play hard with him but he takes it all in stride and loves them both so much. Such a great dog we have.

Every Girl Can Be A Princess

2011-05-16T21:42:00.000-07:00

The girls had their ballet recital and it was great. The recital this Spring was about Princess'. The girls' first dance was Princess' at a tea party and their second dance was about being a ballerina. It was so cute to watch all the girls. All the dances were so great and all the girls have grown so much. Victoria's partner last Spring, Kristina, is a Senior this year and both of my girls gave her hugs to say good bye. She is off to school to become a dancer.

Victoria has grown so much in Ballet and I am so proud of her. Her technique is really coming along and she is able to do a lot more by herself. She is moving up a class this Fall and that will be exciting for her.

Elizabeth is just so darling on stage. She doesn't even have to dance and she is cute. She did dance this time but was still the last one on stage again. She LOVES ballet so much and looks forward to it every time she goes.

Daddy gave the girls a rose and then a beautiful Ballerina necklace, that they love and wear everyday. Auntie Moi got the girls really cool scrapbooks that they get to fill out. We were so happy to have family come out to watch the girls and we ate some really good food.

Bounce and Play time

2011-04-25T07:09:00.000-07:00

We got to spend the day with Trisha, McKay and Savannah. We were going to go play at Hollywood Connection but it was not open so we made other plans. Victoria and Elizabeth made McKay and Savannah button bracelets. McKay and Savannah made Victoria and Elizabeth necklaces. We went to Red Robin and had lunch first and then decided to go play at a Bounce house place.

Charlee met us there and played with us too. We had to much fun. Trisha and I even went and played with the kids. We went to a bounce house in the back and played tag and follow the leader.

McKay and Victoria bonked heads going down together.

Victoria wanted McKay and Charlee to come with her but they were already in a different house and she had her feeling hurt. Then we went to find the other two to find out what happened. Victoria and McKay were starring at each other and Victoria just walked away and McKay started to cry. I could not believe it, they both had broken each other's hearts. They finally made up and things were good again.

The kids played hide and seek in one of the bounce houses. Savannah was hiding behind a pillar and came out putting her finger to her lip, hushing us, it was so cute. McKay kept tackling Victoria so he could beat her up the climbing wall.

They all had such a great time together and I love playing with the Linford family.

The Grizzles are in the Playoffs

2011-04-25T06:54:00.000-07:00

Louis got some free tickets to the Hockey game as his employer is a sponsor. We were up in the party suite and it was pretty fun. So, we took the girls to their frst Hockey game. I brought card games and such thinking they may get bored. But my little girls got into the game. Victoria was shouting at the teams and clapping along with the music. Elizabeth was watcing Grizbee, the mascot. We tried to get down lower to see him but he did not make it. The game went into overtime and the other team won...dang it. We went at half time and got a pizza, lemonade and ice cream. It was so yummy. We will be going next season a lot as the girls loved it but we will be sitting lower so the girls can get to meet GrizzBee and they will be in the GrizzBee club so they get to attend his B-day party.

Chasing of the Lambs

2011-04-25T06:31:00.000-07:00

It is Spring time again and baby anmials are here. The girls and I went to our friend's farm to see the babies. First we got to see the new baby horse and she is so cute. She was a little scared to come up to the girls but not the Mama, she was all about getting some hay. Victoria and Elizabeth loved to feed her and Charlee was just throwing in handfuls of hay to her.

Then we went to see the Llama, Flicka, and the sheep and baby lambs. Last year it was Victoria who chased them but this year it was Elizabeth chasing the babies. She said she just wanted to pet one and they would not come to her. She was very sad about that. All 3 girls fed grain to the Flicka and the sheep.

Next was the baby cows that are being raised to be eaten. On the way to get into the cow pin my little Elizabeth fell face first in a pile of hay, mud and yep cow crap. She was a trouper though. They got in there and fed the cows grain too. Jack, the cow that tried to eat her boot last year was in there too.

The girls had fun and that is all that I care about. That they get to go and get yucky and have fun.

Thank you Shafer Family for always allowing us to come and play.

Cap'n Snowy

2011-02-26T23:24:00.000-08:00

Finally we get a good snow day that makes good snowmen and neither of the girls have runny noses or coughs. We got to go play in the snow tonight. We finally built our first snowman of the winter season...the snow has not been very good this winter. We decided to build a snow pirate. The girls helped a lot and I think it is the best one yet. He is very round and looks great. The girls were out making snow angels while I was getting things ready and of course Hercules was running around like a mad dog. The girls would get the snow shovel full of snow to use for the pirate. They love playing in the snow and it was fun but we missed Papa. We always do it as a family but we wanted to surprise Papa tonight. Victoria said that tomorrow we can make him a boat with Papa's help...oh no we have a project ahead of us now.

Sea Turtles and Penguins....oh my and a mouse

2011-02-26T18:42:00.000-08:00

We have an annual pass to The Living Planet Aquarium....so I never take pictures when we go as we go all the time. But our great friends with us and we had to take some photos. We had so much fun with Annie, Hannah, Sophie and Jonah. We looked at all the animals and spent a lot of time watching the Sea Turtle and Pengiuns. The Sea Turtle is a girl and she was hit by a boat and was bitten by a shark and developed 'bubble butt" which makes it so she cannot dive. They had to put a weight on her butt so that she can dive for food. She is only 5 years old and she is not even full grown yet and can get to 500lbs. She is so amazing to watch swim around.

Warning: some photos are blury as it was hard to get all 5 kids to hold still for just a second...but we take what we can get.

After the Aquarium we took the kids to Chuck E Cheese. The kids were so excited to play the games. We ordered our pizza and let the kids play while we waited...and did we ever wait...I waited over an hour for our pizza. I was really upset and more upset the my girls were starving. But Annie shared her pizza with the girls so that was awesome. They won a lot of tickets and then we cashed them in. Victoria got candy and a Tinkerbell Pencil, Elizabeth got candy and a bracelet. All the girls had so much fun with each other and really enjoy being together. Annie and I got some girl time and that was GREAT!!! I love hanging out with great friends.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's off to work we go....

2011-02-26T18:26:00.000-08:00

My girls love Princess' and love to dig in the dirt. So, one nice winter day...Mr.Sun came out and I decided that we should go outside too. I put the slide up for the girls to play on and I started to rake leaves that have been under snow and killing the grass...along with Hercules peeing on them. I was done raking the leaves and the girls were done sliding down the slide. I was putting my things away when I heard a familiar song. My two girls were in the rocks with stakes singing Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's off to work we go. They were the seven dwarfs and were digging for jewels. They brought the jewels to me and then said they had to go home, which was the shed. I just loved to hear them singing and playing. Victoria was Grumpy and Elizabeth was Sneezy and she kept sneezing. I just love my girls so much and love the role playing that they do.

Las Vegas!!!

2011-02-26T12:42:00.000-08:00

Louis' Aunt passed away and we headed to Las Vegas to the Funeral. This would be the first trip for Elizabeth to Vegas but the 2nd for Victoria. This was the first LOOOOOONG trip for both the girls traveling in a car. My girls HATE to be in the car for a long time but this was pushing it. My Sister-in-law, Jody came with us and brought her grandson, Albert. We left our house really late and got to Vegas at 11:30pm, which is 12:30pm our time. My girls were cranky and tired...tried to sleep in the car but that is not fun. We got to our room and I just put the 3 of us to bed in our clothes. The next morning the girls and I went swimming at 7am and it was so much fun. The pool was heated and then the really warm hot tub. We got ready and all of us went to the store to pick up some food. Our place or residence for the time was a resort which had a full kitchen, 2 bedrooms, living room and 5 pools and hot tubs. We went to the Funeral and it was a great service, great to see family but sad for the reason. Victoria kept going up to the coffin to see her Great Aunt. Afterwards we went to our Cousin Robbie's house for a buffet dinner. The food was excellent. We got back to our room late and I had to wake the girls up to give them showers...they were not happy and each cried the whole time. We woke up on our last day and again went swimming at 6:30am. We took the kids to the Aquarium and that was awesome to see the animals. They had a "sunken ship" and you could look out and see the animals swimming in the water. We got back in the car and headed for home...the LOOOOOOONG ride back. The girls did really good on the trip back. Started to get tired when we got to Provo. We hit some bad weather in some spots and that slowed us down. We got home at about 9pm and I just put the girls to bed in their clothes again. I felt like I neglected my girls...they never go to bed in their clothes and never without brushing or flossing their teeth...ok well I can count on 1 hand how many times they have without brushing. They were just so off their schedule and it makes for grumpy kids...but in all they were great. I do know that any long trip will be done in an airplane...I just hate the driving part and just want to be there and spend more time on vacation and not driving. We were glad to be home in our own beds, with Papa and back on our schedule.

Kids eating breakfast

Kids in front of New York New York

Girls in front of Luxor

The cute kiddos

Small World Days

2011-02-26T10:14:00.000-08:00

At Victoria's school they were learning about different countries in their Small World Days. She learned about Hawaii, China and Mexico. The kids could wear traditional clothes from their culture, bring pictures and stories. I felt like a bad Mom because I did not get anything for her to take or wear. I was sick all week and just got out of the hospital the day before she needed everything. I was as a loss but family and a freind cam through for me at the last minute. I was desperately looking for an outfit for Victoria and a friend here in Tooele had one and her size. I picked it up like around 10pm. Victoria's Aunt Jody sent me a picture of her Great Grandfather and Auntie Teeda and Uncle Ferd gave us stories. I was so grateful that I had family and friends to help out in my time of need. She loved wearing the dress and still likes to wear it and twirl around in it.

Comic Elizabeth

2011-01-11T22:53:00.000-08:00

So, ever since Victoria's b-day and them telling jokes, we have been telling jokes too. We had been telling jokes all day and Elizabeth keeps telling the same joke everytime. We were sitting at the table having dinner and telling jokes. We all take turns and make up jokes but again cute little Elizabeth tells the same one. By this time, Louis and I are dying with laughter because she is so dang cute. I almost peed my pants becaue of it. I finally had to get it on tape and show everyone just how cute she is.

Calling all Pirates

2011-01-11T21:44:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe that it has been 4 years already. On January 2, 2007 at 8:15am we were blessed with a baby girl named, Victoria Eliazar Quintana. It was at that moment that I fell deeply in love with a child that we created. I was mesmerized and in shock that it finally happened.

Took her to her 4yr check up and it was great. She weighs 35lbs..50th percentile, height 41.5 inches..85th percentile and she had 3 shots but is done with shots until she is 12. I was so happy about that and so was she.

The day before her birthday we took her to Toys R Us and she got a crown and they sang Happy Birthday to her over the loud speaker. I bought her some gifts there and at Kohl's. That night I blew up 25 balloons for her wake up to on her birthday. She woke up in the middle of the night asking what the balloons were for...I told her for her birthday and to go back to bed. She LOVES balloons and was so excited when she woke up to see them.

Once her sister got up we gave her some gifts to open. Elizabeth got her some Littlest Pet Shop and we got her a Vet lab coat with a dog and instruments. Elizabeth was the nurse and Victoria the Vet.

Elizabeth and I made a surprise cake and our neighbors came over to celebrate.

She wanted meat loaf and rice for dinner. We went to Cold Stone to get her free Ice Cream creation later that week and went to Winger's for her free birthday dinner.

She wanted a Pirate Party and the planning was set in motion. I made message in a bottle invites and hand delivered them. That was a lot of work; tea staining paper, using coffee grounds, tearing edges and the baking them. But in the end they were awesome.

Bought her costume the day after Halloween. We were having a pink and black pirate party; complete with a ship, pirate's feast, treasure chest cake, treasure hunt, pin the flag on the map and real pirates. We were setting up the party to the very last second guests started to arrive. We ate chicken legs, peg legs (little smokies), fruit salad and bread sticks made into X's....there was suppose to be seaweed but time ran out (green pasta).

Victoria, McKay, Savannah, Elizabeth and Mary

The kids ate in the ship, played in the ship, opened their treasure boxes in the ship and all the while the ship was sinking and they never knew.

The Pink Pearl

After food, the pirates came to play, Captain Lefty and Mr.Brunson.

The kids were so excited but knew they were not real pirate because they drive a car and not a ship...LOL. They played pin the flag on the map, went on a treasure hunt, opened presents, showed the kids a magic trick and told jokes. The treasure chests, I made myself, had an eye patch, earring, pirate necklace, pirate ring, gold coins, chocolate gold coins and a telescope. Us adults were getting a kick out of the pirates.

Pin the flag on the map

Treasure hunt

Opening treasure chests

The pirates left and then we had cake and ice cream. My friend Leisa, who makes all my cakes, out did herself this time. She made a pink treasure chest with treasure coming out of it. It was AMAZING and soooo very good.

Victoria made out like a bandit in the gift department. She was given; a bike and helmet (Papa and Mom), bike basket, bike horn, twirllies for handle bars and a ballet princess bag (Mamaw), Baby Ah-choo (Sara Gubler), Rapunzel dress (McKay and Savannah), awesome pony on a stick (Charlee), Barbie as the Princess and The Pauper DVD and Life Like baby doll (Gracie and fam), Pots and Pans for play kitchen (Hannah & Sophie), play Dog with clothes (Brooke & Trinity), Pony play set and play Dress up set (Mary and fam) and 2 Crayola games (Nana Ann). The party was a blast and everyone had such a good time. Victoria was so excited to have her friends all come to her party and invited everyone over for play dates. All that day she kept telling me that this is going to be the best party ever and I am the best mom ever. She loved the ship which had a flag, telescope, anchor and wheel. The poor ship may not have been the best but she loved it and the kids had fun playing with it. It was such a wonderful evening spent celebrating a beautiful and bright little girl. I love her with all my heart and them some.

"We just stared and stared, wondering of the miracle of incredible you..

Because God Gave Us You."

A quote from her book that I have read to her since she was in my belly.

My Alphabet Crown

2011-01-11T21:38:00.001-08:00

At Victoria's school, they earn their alaphabet crown and blending badges. Victoria has known all her letters and sounds and that vowels make 2 sounds. I was waiting for them to test her and then I had the idea of her just telling her teacher she knew all her letters and sounds. The week after Winter break and we were picking her up from school, I saw her come up the stairs wearing her alaphabet crown. I was SOOOO proud of her. She told her teacher Miss Adina and then they go to Miss Mandy's (the director) office and she cites them all. She thens earns her alaphabet crown and all her class mates cheer for her. I was so very proud. She was so proud of herself too and she has every right to be.

Adorable Victoria

2010-12-11T15:03:00.000-08:00

Victoria got a job with Franklin Covey shooting a traning video for them. She had a ton of fun doing it and made some new friends. All the kids were sick children in a hospital and got to play and wear Pj's...what a fun job

Reading books with a friend and Sister between take
New friend and the girl who played the nurse

After a busy day I told the girls they needed to take a nap and rest. Victoria came out and told me she could not sleep, I told her to just lay down. I checked on her a little later and she had covered her cow with her baby blanket and then herself with her blanket. It was so cute I had to take a picture...they both have the same blanket that Mamaw made.

The Nutcracker

2010-12-11T14:05:00.000-08:00

The girls had their Nutcracker Ballet Recital.

Last year Victoria stole the show and this year she was GREAT. We were so proud of her. She came out and ran around like a little mouse and then she was a beautiful snowflake. She was so beautiful.

Then we had Elizabeth the show stealer this year. She came out on stage as a mouse and just stood there watching all the other mice run around.

The soliders and Nutcracker came out and the Nutcracker tried to help her off stage but she just stood behind them as they danced. The mice came out again and died in the battle but not Elizabeth she again just watched everyone.

The curtain closed with her still standing on stage by herself.

She then came out as a snowflake. She did dance around the Snow Queen but when the snowflakes were just watching the Snow Queen dance, Elizabeth was dancing with her. All the snowflakes went to the side of the stage and sat down but Elizabeth stayed with the Snow Queen and danced with her...while the Snow Queen danced around her trying not to hit her. Elizabeth finally went to the side of the stage but stood for a little bit and then sat down. Everyone in the audience was laughing because she was so dang cute.

Daddy gave Victoria pink flowers and a Rapunzel doll and gave Elizabeth purple flowers and a Rapunzel doll. Mamaw also gave the girls flowers.

I guess both of my girls do not have stage fright but like to be the attention grabber. I cannot wait to see the Spring recital and how well Victoria does and hopefully Elizabeth will dance this time like she did at dress rehearsal. I love my life with my girls and they keep me going everyday with new and exciting adventures.

Victoria and the boys

2010-12-11T12:52:00.001-08:00

Victoria is enjoying school so much. She has lerned so much in the little time that she has been there. She knows all her letters and sounds and has started to blend letters to make words. She has 1 more year of pre-school before she starts Kindergarten and she will be reading before that time. She when first started school she would come home and tell me of a friend of hers. I would always ask her about her and then one day I asked her teacher about the child and the teacher told me there was not a child in her class by that name. Come to find out, Victoria had made up an imaginary friend to cope with a new setting. I asked her about the friend and she told me the truth...a few days later she said that she gave her friend to someone else who needed her and along came McKay. She started talking about this boy in her class. She told me that she loved him and that she kissed him on the cheek. I was having a heart attack and knew that if I told her Dad he would die. I talked to her teachers and they told me that McKay would follow her around and that it was cute. All I was thinking was this is my 3 year old little girl and she likes a boy who also likes her. I finally had to tell her that she did not love him but liked him a lot and that she could not kiss him anymore but just hug him. I ended up writing his mom a note and she wrote me one too on the same day. We got together for a play date and they are a wonderful family. McKay has a sister who was born 1 month after Elizabeth. We got together and had a play date at the Children's Museum at The Gateway. They are great friends and like to be around each other.

McKay and Vitoria

Victoria, McKay, Savannah and Elizabeth

The day that we got together with them I was told by Victoria that McKay and Joe were fighting over her. I was dying inside. I guess both boys wanted to stand by her in line and were pushing each other out of the way. Victoria came home one day sad becuase McKay did not want to be her friend anylonger or play with her. Louis was upset that a little boy had hurt his little girl. I got to the bottom of it and what happened was...it was cold outside and when Victoria runs around on cold days she coughs A LOT, so McKay wanted to play tag and she told him that she could not run so he went and found someone else to play with. I just died because she is so silly. Victoria has 4 little boys that like her and like to play with her. She does play with 1 or 2 girls but mainly boys. Louis and I are in trouble...she is not even 4 yet and already boys are fighting over her...what are we going to do?

Yo Gabba Gabba Live!!!!

2010-11-15T12:28:00.000-08:00

So, my best friend Kari got us the hook-up. Her step brother is co-executive producer for Yo Gabba Gabba and the lead singer for the Aqua Bats. He got us tickets to the show and then tickets to the party after the show. IT WAS AWESOME....as Dj Lance Rock would say.

The girls were so excited to go and I was a little too. We got there, gathered our tickets and some snacks and got ready to watch the show. DJ Lance Rock came out and the part began. He brought out the Gabba Gang and then it was on. I had a blast and so did the kids. We danced, sang and jumped around. The girls knew all the songs and I was trying to get pictures and take videos. Biz Markie came and rapped and he let some kids on stage and rap with him...that was great. A girl from American Idol was on the show doing her dancy dance...can't remember her name..I no longer watch the show. The Aqua Bats were there and they sang Pool Party. It was so cool watching Kari's step-brother live in action. The band was great. The Gabba Gang sang, There's a party in my tummy, Peek-a-boo, Name game, Balloons, Bubbles, Get the sillies out and so many other songs. It was great to be able to see the show and have my girls see the show too.

After the show we went to the Party. DJ Lance Rock came out and was taking photos with people. We did not get his picture because there were crowds around him. We let the kids play while we waited for our letter to be called to get photos with the Gabba Gang. They had music, games and food for everyone. Then it was our turn with the Gabba Gang. The girls ran up to them and gave them hugs. They thought it was cool to get to hug them all. We had our photo taken with the Gabba Gang. We met the girl who plays Foofa on the show and does her voice, she is Kari's Step-sister. I wanted to meet Kari's Step-Brother but he and his band had a show to do. He is also the voice for Plex. It was a night my girls have not forgotten...they still talk about it today.

Elizabeth's 2yr check up

2010-10-01T18:23:00.000-07:00

She is growing up so fast. She went to see Dr.Lam and had a great check up. She weighs 27.5lbs; 50th percentile, is 34.25 inches tall; 50th percentile and her head is in the 75th percentile. She had to get one shot and she did not even cry and then she also had the flu mist. I was so proud of her for not crying...she even watched Cheri give her the shot. Then we went to Spaghetti Factory for her birthday; with all the free stuff I sign the girls up for their birthday's last at least 2-3 weeks. She loves to do whatever her sister is doing and she cries when her sister gets out of the truck for school. She cannot wait until she goes to school too next year. She is potty trained and she loves wearing big girl panties like her sister. She is still the clown of the family. I just love her so much everyday, even when she is being naughty and pouting.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

2010-09-25T10:11:00.001-07:00

The Circus was in town and we went to enjoy "The Greatest Show On Earth". That is what they claim and it is true...it is the greatest and I love going. The girls had a blast. Elizabeth was mesmerized by everything that was going on. She would just stare at everything and would not say a word until I got her talking. Victoria was a little shy at the beginning with all the clowns so up front and personal but once the show started she loved it.

We were in the 9th row and had AWESOME seats. We went before the show started to see the animals and the performers. We watched KellyAnn the elephant paint a picture. We had our pic taken with a clown and had stilt walkers walking over our heads and the girls got tattoos.

We had cotton candy (came with a yellow hat), popcorn and a snow cone in an elephant cup. The girls each got a coloring book (from Mamaw) and horses, which their Barbies ride on. The show lasted from 7pm until 9:30pm.

The circus came in on a train and the show started. We saw aerial acts, Tigers, Elephants, ponies, horses, llamas, donkeys, a dog, clowns and 7 motor bikes in a globe. The clowns were so dang funny. They came in a VW bug and 8 got out of it dressed as super heroes. They were making spoofs of the super heroes. One was Iron Man and he had an iron and ironing board, The Flash had a energy drink and ran around like crazy. They did a skit on PT Barnum Circus...bearded lady, strong man and half man/half woman, body benders and more. The aerial acts were fantastic; high wire, trapeze, trampoline, gymnast's and so much more. There was a battle between pirates and they did stunts on teeter boards. We saw Egyptians and Chinese acts. It really was so much fun to watch. I cannot wait to go in 2 more years. I think this will be a tradition in the Quintana family. I took a million pictures but cannot put them all on here. I hope that you enjoy the pictures. I will try to get some video on here too.

The girls and their Horses.

Then at the end we got to see the baby Elephant that was born Jan 19, 2009 on President Barack's inauguration....He name is Barack too and he was so cute. He had a very cute mother; she was holding onto his tail and if she lost it she would search for it until she found it again. I always thought the baby hung onto it's mother's tail but not this little family. It was so adorable.

Happy 2nd Birthday Elizabeth

2010-09-25T07:50:00.000-07:00

Dawn & some of the kids at the party...the rest were off playing.

What a party we had for my little Elizabeth. It is sad to know that she is 2...I kept telling myself last year I was giving birth to her but it was 2 yrs ago. Time is just passing me by way to fast.

Eliazbeth LOVES music and we gave her a music party. I hired a music instructor to come and play with the kids...they danced, play instruments and sang songs. It was so fun and Dawn was great with the kids.

My friend, Leisa made her cake and it was so was dang cute and delish.

We ate hotdogs (Elizabeth's favorite), macaroni salad, Jell-o salad and chips. I gave all the kids Rythym sticks, kazoo and bell for their party favors. It was a beautiful day and as usual it was HOT and windy. But we had a blast. She blew out her candles and ate yummy cake. She was given wonderful gifts from everyone and loves them all. Her favorite may be her Barbies and her Cupcake dress up dress, she put that on the very next day and wore it all day.

Elizabeth, I love you so very much and cannot believe how fast you are growing up. I am so thankful that you are my daughter and you bring so much joy to my life.

Utah State Fair

2010-09-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

It was the first time the girls had been to a fair, well Victoria went when she was 1.5 yrs old and Elizabeth was in my tummy, but this is the first time they will remember.
We had a blast and it was so fun just being together and enjoying time together.

We took the girls to the working farm, where they milked a cow, fed the cow, gathered apples, drove a tractor, brushed a sheep, planted seeds and then picked their crops, gathered eggs, sold all their goods and got money to spend in the store. They thought it was pretty cool.

Then we got some kettle corn, snow cones, elephant ear and lemonade.
We went to the Sea Lion show and that was so fun. The girls loved to watch them act silly. We had our picture taken with them, Rose and Kim. They laid their heads on our shoulders and I held Rose's head.

We went on the Ferris Wheel as a family. The girls played two games; the hammer game and duck game and won 2 prizes each. Then the rode on the carousel, train and wiggle worm.

As we were leaving we stopped by all the animals because Victoria would not leave until she got to see them. They were able to pet a baby cow who was only 3 weeks old. They saw the goats, sheep and cows...for milking and beef.

On a lighter note...something not so funny happened at the fair. So, as you know Elizabeth is potty trained. So, I take her to the bathroom and I find a nice surprise that I stick my hand right in. I know that I do not need to tell you what it is but it was so not funny. So, my little girl had to go commando at the Fair.

Where has time gone?

2010-09-11T16:10:00.000-07:00

Well, both of my little girls are in Ballet now. Elizabeth has been wanting to go for so long now and now she is a part of it too. The first day I took pictures of the girls before class and now that I sit here and look at them, I am crying. I remember 1.5 years ago when I took Victoria's first ballet photo and now that I see Elizabeth, she looks just like her sister did. Where has time gone, that I now have two big girls and no more babies. It breaks my heart for so many reasons. I love these two girls that I carried for 9 months more than I could ever tell me or show them.

Well, Ballet went GREAT!!! Mrs. Melissa was impressed with how much Elizabeth already knew. The girls did act a little crazy the first day but we talked afterward and that will not happen again. They just love each other so much that they cannot stay away from each other, they are always touching each other and loving each other. Elizabeth had a blast and she is so excited to be like her sister in Ballet now.

Play Structure

2010-08-25T15:05:00.000-07:00

Louis and I have been wanting to get the girls a play structure for the back yard but have been waiting. Well, we found one that was on sale and we bought it. It took Louis about 2.5 days all together to get up, almost all by himself, I helped a little bit. The girls have had so much fun on it already. They were even having fun when we hooked the ladder and slide to the trampoline to use. Now they have a slide, swings, glider, monkey bars, picnic table and club house. They had some friends over to play on it already. I am glad that we have it so, I don't have to worry about germs at the playground, you who know me will understand. Even Victoria said today when I asked her to wash her hands after playing on it, "Mom, you said I won't get germs from it." I guess I am a little OCD about germs but that is OK. Anyway, lots of fun for the girls and I know that they can be in the backyard playing I don't have to be there too. Thanks Papa for building it for them.

Just starting out

Slide and ladder on the tramp

The monkey bars, main area and swing arm

The girls playing while it is still under construction

The finished product.

1st Day of Pre-school

2010-08-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

Victoria started her first day of Pre-school at Challenger Private school. When she woke up, she said that she did not think she was old enough to go to school yet. I told her that she was and then she was very excited to go. When we went to orientation the week before I was crying but the day we dropped her off I was so excited for her. We walked her into her class and dropped her off with her teacher, Mrs.Adina. We first just drove through the parking lot and left. Victoria was mad and wondered why we did not drop her off at school. I knew that she was not going to cry or have a problem going to school. When we picked her up, she got in the car and started to tell us all about her day. She drew a circle and then colored it and stayed in the lines. She said they learned about the letter, "M". She goes Tuesday and Thursday, half day but we are thinking of send her Mon-Fri, half day. She said that she loves school and cannot wait to go back. I cannot believe that my baby girl is old enough for school. Louis said, "I still remember that little black head coming out of you and now she is in school." Time flies by so quickly.

Walking to her cubby with teacher Mrs. Adina

Principal, Mrs. Mandy walking her to the car

Hogle Zoo

2010-08-25T14:50:00.000-07:00

We went to the Zoo with Kimmie, Chaz and Charlee. We got there early enough that the Tiger boys were up playing with food. We watched baby Zuri play around in her enclosure and then her mom splashed her with mud. The kids rode on the carousel and then we all went on the train. We had lunch at the Zoo but the kids wanted to play more than eat. I took the wagon and at first nobody was riding in it and then all of a sudden I had 3 kids in it. It was fun. We saw the Gorillas and the new Gorilla, Husani was so cute. He was standing up just looking at the kids through the window. Elizabeth loves the Gorillas. It was so much fun to spend the morning with my dear friend who I never get to see. Victoria loved seeing her friend too and spending time with her. Chaz was a great helper with Elizabeth, he took good care of her.

Thank you Shafer family....can't wait to go to Lagoon together.

Petting Zoo

2010-08-25T14:46:00.000-07:00

We went to Gardner Village's Petting Zoo with Adrienne, Avery, Easton and Gracen. The kids LOVED it so much. First they went on pony rides and had to much fun. Then we went to see the animals. They saw; goats, pigs, ducks, bunnies, chickens, a Llama, turtle, bull, donkey and an Ostrich. Avery was chasing the duck trying to pet it and he touched it a few times. Victoria tried to touch it but was a little scared. Then we went walking around and looked at the pond with fish in it. Went into a candy store and found some candy from my childhood and it was so yummy. Then we had lunch at the Bakery. Victoria was spinning the chip holder around and it fell over onto the floor. Everyone sat and had much and then had cookies. The kids were so crazt while eating I thought we were at the zoo. We always have fun with the Bybee family.

Dino Museum

2010-08-25T14:38:00.001-07:00

We went to the Dino Museum with Annie, Hannah, Sophie and Jonah. It was so much fun. We lost Hannah for a second and then the next minute we lost Sophie. We decided that we needed to talk to the girls because it was VERY busy there. After that we had no more missing children. The girls loved looking at the dinos together and talking about them. We went to a 3D under the sea movie about prehistoric animals. Victoria and Hannah were a little scared. But Elizabeth and Sophie just watched the movie with no trouble. Jonah was busy doing other things and was not interested in the movie. All the kids played in the sand, digging for bones. Little Jonah and Elizabeth thought it was funny to throw sand at everyone. Then at the water play area the 3 older girls played together while Elizabeth and Jonah talked to each other. Jonah kept hitting Elizabeth and I showed him how to be nice. I video taped Elizabeth showing Jonah this and then Jonah hit her again and she told him no and again how to be nice. It was so dang cute as he just let her do it. All the kids had a great time with each other and I cannot wait until we get together again. I loved talking with a good friend and being in great company. Thank you Palmer family.

Monster Trucks

2010-08-16T20:18:00.000-07:00

Louis got 4 tickets to the Monster Truck show from his work. We called our neighbors to see if they wanted to go with us. The race started at 6pm. We got both the girl ear muffs and they were so cute in them. Elizabeth's would squish her cheeks together...so cute. They did qualifying first, we watched race cars race and sprint car racing. Once they qualifying was over BigFoot, the original and 6 year winner, and another truck raced side by side twice around the track...BigFoot kicked some butt. Then all the trucks came out one by one and did free style and that was SOOO cool. They jumped over big jumps, long jumps, popped wheelies and did donuts. It was so much fun. The girls had a blast. At 10pm it was time to go home. Elizabeth was alseep in my arms and Victoria was crying because she did not want to go home. I told her we had to get home before the drunks got on the road...LOL. I am so glad that Miriam and Mikayla went with us...it was just so much fun and so much fun to watch the girls have fun. Hated paying $15 for 4 hotdogs and $2.50 for a drink that would cost $1.00 at Maverik...but on well.

Our Family

Us and the Bailey's

Car racing

Rocky getting everyone wet

The legendary BigFoot

Captain USA

Outlaw...he was AWESOME in the freestyle

BigFoot is in the lead

Look at that air and BigFoot wins, 2nd night in a row

The Shed

2010-08-03T22:30:00.001-07:00

So, finally Louis has a shed for all his stuff, it better be big enough 12x16. The day we got it delivered, Victoria said now we have someplace to keep my horse. We had to build the forms, spread out 5 yards of dirt and spread 3 yards of gravel. We were all set to lay the concrete ourselves but I convinced Louis that we should hire it out and we did. That was a blessing. The girls loves helping spread the dirt and gravel. The day we did dirt, they were so dirty, they had never been that dirty ever in their lives. But they had to much fun digging and building volcanos. Now, we have been moving everything in it...the garage is empty and there is plenty of room for my truck. We have to paint it to match the house but other than that it is done. We got one smoking deal on it and if I told you the price we paid I would have to kill you...LOL.

The dirt mound pretty much gone

Digging in the dirt

Gravel all spread out

The Barn

Building with Papa

2010-07-18T18:43:00.000-07:00

The girls got a Tool Box building kit from Home Depot and today they put it together. They had their kits and hammer in hand and were ready to build. Papa read the instructions and got the girls started on pounding in the nails into the outside pieces. Victoria did a good job of hitting the nail every time. Elizabeth was a wild woman and went to town hitting the nail with the side of the hammer along with moving the other hand too. I helped the girls keep the hammer steady and they did all the pounding. Victoria was slow and steady and Elizabeth was hard and quick. They glued the handle in and then they were done. The girls and I painted the tool boxes, wrote their names on them and they had some stickers of tools to put on the boxes. We are going to go to Toys R Us to get them some tools. It was so fun doing this with them and Papa loved spending time with them since he has no boys. It was a fun day.

Summer Doings

2010-07-18T07:14:00.000-07:00

We have been really busy this summer. We go to the Zoo, Aquarium, Swim Lessons, Ballet, play dates with friends and just regular things around the house. I have gotten to the point where I don't take my camera anymore to places that we visit over and over again because I want to just enjoy my time and not worry about getting pictures. We went to a Child's saftey fair and met Life Flight Crew, Search and Rescue crew and dogs and Police Officers. Got the girls their ID packets that I need to get their fingerprints done. Went to Home Depot and met some FireFighters and Victoria asked them if they have a black and white fire dog. They each got a tool box that they will build with Papa and then paint with me. We have been playing in the pool at home. We have just had a great Summer and now we are getting ready for Victoria to go to School. I hope that all of you have been having a good summer too.

The Living Planet Aquarium

2010-07-18T07:05:00.000-07:00

I got annual passes for the Aquarium. The girls love it so much. We went twice in one month and after our last visit we went to Chuck E Cheese's. The girls love to look at the Octopus, Penguins, Sting Rays and Sea Horses. Elizabeth touch the 2 star fish but Victoria would not on the first visit. The second visit she touched the regular star fish but not the spiny one. I love taking them places and seeing how they react to things that we do.

Chuck E Cheese's was so fun. The girls just played and played. We did manage to get some lunch in them. But they just had so much fun.

Frog

Octopus Lobster

Elizabeth touching SeaStar

Spiny SeaStar

Swim Lessons

2010-07-18T06:57:00.000-07:00

The girls both took swim lessons just like they do every Summer. They had a great time this year. Victoria passed Level 1 Preschool and needs to go to Level 2 Preschool. She needs to work on putting her face in the water but other than that she did so good. Elizabeth did a wonderful job. She onnly needs to work on blowing bubbles with her nose and mouth submerged, she does it with her mouth submerged. She loved going every morning. They loved going down the slide that last day of class. I now need to stick to taking them swimming at least once a month to work on things and keep the skills up.

Victoria and her teachers

Victoria going down the slide

Elizabeth and her teacher

Elizabeth going down the slide

Spring Recital

2010-05-11T13:42:00.001-07:00

Victoria had her Spring Recital and it was darling. Her first dance was with a partner, Kristina and she is in Mrs. Melissa's advanced Pointe class.

Their 1st dance, they danced like ballerinas and it was so cute. Kristina was great with Victoria and Victoria really liked her. Victoria's class danced while their partners stood behind them. Then their partners danced a dance that put them directly behind them and then they danced together.

The 2nd dance, the girls were Bumble Bees. It was so dange cute. My mom and I made all the costumes for the Bee dance. They ran around the stage like little bees and jumped in place and the ran around again.

After all the Bees had gone off stage....there was Victoria kneeling on one leg as the curtains were closing. I just love that little girl so much. She always brings character to the recitals.

Her Papa gave her a dozen White Roses and Victoria gave Kristina a bouquet of Carnations. Mamaw gave Victoria a Red Rose.

We went back to our house and friends came also. We had dinner and yummy Bumble Bee cupcakes that I made. It was a good night and so great to be able to share it with friends and family.

Dress Up

2010-04-25T12:51:00.000-07:00

Victoria and Elizabeth love to dress up like any other little girl. They also love to watch Max and Ruby. There is this one episode where Max cannot go to sleep and keeps waking up Ruby and she has to change his pajamas all the time. Well, the girls dress up in an outfit and then Victoria who plays Ruby and Elizabeth plays Max. Victoria will put her to bed and then when Elizabeth comes to get her Victoria will change her outift into something else. I love hearing them play this game so much. I took some pictures of them in one costume. Elizabeth loves to be a Pirate.

There is another episode where Ruby is making a surprise cake for their Grandma's birthday and has to send Max to the grocery store. Victoria will write up a grocery list and give it to Elizabeth. Elizabeth runs off to the store and brings things back to her sister. They play this a few times.

I just love to see my girls play together and have such a good imagination to recreate what they see. So, many kids nowadays just sit in front of the TV and have no imagination at all. My girls are only allowed a certain amount of TV a day and the rest of the time is playing using their imaginations. It is just so beautiful to watch them interact with each other.

Story Time

2010-04-25T12:41:00.001-07:00

A bookstore in Tooele, The Purple Cow, does a story time every Friday at 11:30. Well, Friday April 23rd I was the one who read the story and made a craft for the kids to do. There is sometimes a lot of kids and other times just a few. This day there were 15 kids.

There are these books about Dinosaurs that my girls love....How does a Dinosaur eat their food and How does a Dinosaur go to sleep. There are many others but we only have the two. I found a craft where the kids got to make a dinosaur by first coloring the different parts and then cutting and pasting them together. It was a lot of fun.

Happenings

2010-04-18T19:55:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday night Victoria told me that her neck hurt. I took her temp and it was 99.5 degrees. Gave her some Tylenol and put her to bed. The next day the highest her temp got was 100.5 and she said her neck hurt a little. Monday, I checked her tonsils on the outside and they were SO BIG I looked inside and they were touching and very red and white. We took her to the instant care as our Dr could not get her in until later that day. Her strep culture was positive instantly and she started to get a rash on her torse...which is scarlet fever. So, I had a sick little girl who luckily I had been keeping away from her father since Sat night because he was having surgery.

Tuesday, Victoria was no longer contagious and Louis had half of his thyroid and a 3.33cm x 5cm lump removed. We had a biopsy done on it 2 weeks ago and it showed no signs of cancer then but the Dr will send the lump to the pathologist to re-check it again. We had a lot of stress in our lives while waiting for the results. Tuesday, we arrived at 10am, surgery started at 12pm, he was out at 2pm and in recovery for an hour and then we spent from 4pm until 6pm in post-op surgery. He was feeling better yesterday that he did some yard work and today feeling a little better. He is very tired and in pain by the end of the day.

That was how we spent Louis' week of vacation. But everyone is better now and on the mend. I am glad that I am able to take care of my family when it is needed. I love them all so very much.

A Day at The Farm

2010-04-18T18:28:00.000-07:00

Good friends of ours have a farm and lots of animals. They have 3 baby horses, 2 orphan cows and 9 baby lambs. They have other herds of animals out in the field that have babies but all of these babies are at their house. Kimmie and Travis are wonderful people and we are lucky to have them as friends.

So, the day started out at their land where they have many horses and cows and babies. Kimmie was feeding and watering them. We made our way to their house for some hands on work. We started out looking at the baby horses...which wanted to make me cry they were so dang cute. There are 2 girls and 1 boy. Kimmie tried to get one baby horse to come and see us and man was she ever fiesty. She would pull on the rope so hard she would start to pass out and she would kick her front legs like crazy. She finally laid down and Kimmie was able to pet her. We never go the chance but we will when the babies are ready.

Victoria and Charlee (Kimmie's little girl) fed the two baby cows milk bottles. Jack was a wild eater and was foaming of the mouth and then tried to eat Elizabeth's boot and she was mad. Wall-E just laid down and drank his bottle...so relaxed. While Kimmie, Elizabeth and I were talking and petting the cows, Victoria and Charlee went into the field where the lambs, sheep, goats and llama where. Next thing I hear is Victoria chasing the lambs and sheep telling them she was going to get them. I died laughing.

Victoria and Charlee rode on Harley the Pony but Elizabeth wanted nothing to do with him. The girls played in the club house and sand box.

We sat down to have dinner, which was delicious.

It was just so fun and great to be with a great friend. Victoria woke up the next morning asking if we were going to Charlee's again. I am glad that she has such a great friend and they are great together.

The Girls' Barbie Doll House

2010-04-07T18:12:00.000-07:00

So, I bought the girls a barbie doll house and they love it. It came with 14 pieces of furniture and then we just bought the fridge that came with food. The girls love to play with it and they play with it often. It has 4 levels. The top level is the attic, the 3rd level is the bedroom that has two outside patios on both sides of it with a chair and swing, the 2nd level is the kitchen and dinning room and the bottom level is the bathroom and living room. I am so glad that we got it for them to play. I know I loved my barbie doll house when I was little. We are going to keep this so our granddaughters can play with it too.

Victoria won a coloring contest

2010-04-07T18:07:00.001-07:00

The Maverik by our house had a coloring contest and Victoria won. I will post a picture of her coloring when I get it back. She did really good at not going out of the lines. She had to color an Easter egg that had a few flowers around it. She won a porcelain tea set, princess doll, princess dress up stuff and some candy. She was so proud of herself and so were we.

Snow

2010-04-07T18:01:00.001-07:00

We thought that we were done with the snow as far as having to snowblow.....but no. Utah had more snow and we put away the snow blower. I had to shovel for an hour out front and was way too tired to do the deck so I just did enough for him to have a path on the deck. When I went to the backyard I could not see the stairs on the deck it was a big ole slide.

Bowling

2010-04-07T17:56:00.000-07:00

I took the girls bowling with Aunt Kari, Gracie, Spencer, Brett and Ben. This is the first time that Elizabeth has bowled. Elizabeth was so excited to bowl until it was her turn to get the ball and push it down the ramp. She was crying and would not stand up. So, Victoria got to bowl for both her and her Sister. Victoria had so much fun bowling. Then we went and rode the mechanical horse and played a few games. Victoria and Elizabeth both love to ride horses. Victoria has been on a real one but I did not take pictures with my camera. I will this Friday.

Stuff

2010-03-29T12:53:00.001-07:00

We were at the Zoo one day and Victoria kept running. I told her she better stop or should would fall. So, she was running and she fell. I said, "Dang it" and ran to her. I thought she had hit her mouth and I was going to be so mad if her teeth were loose. But she hit her forehead and got some road rash. I felt bad for her and asked her if she was going to run anymore and she said no.

Here is Elizabeth sleeping in her big girl bed. She loves it now and has been in it for a few weeks. Just like Victoria she has to have her animals in her bed. She will choose a different one almost every night. Just have to get potty training done and she will be an official big girl.

Princess and TinkerBell

2010-03-13T14:04:00.000-08:00

So, Victoria got her big girl room when she was 17 months old. Elizabeth now has her big girl room at 17 months old. I took some photos of Victoria's and Elizabeth's rooms. Both of the girls have daybeds. I love the design of them and when they go off to college they can take them with them if they need to and have storage under their bed in the drawer. Victoria's room is the room that has the baby dolls and play house. I am not done with Elizabeth's room yet. We still have the crib in there as she is not ready for the bed and the changing table. I am getting the girls a doll house for their barbie's that will be in Elizabeth's room along with a Tinkerbell toy storage orgainzer. I am also buying both of the girls' their own Vanity and I cannot wait for that. I still have a few things that need to be made for her walls and I need to get a shelf. I also took a photo of the girls' hands and feet that my dentist office made of them. I love them so much and love looking at them and seeing how big they have gotten since then.

Riding a bike

2010-03-13T13:50:00.000-08:00

It was a beautiful and sunny day. I had put Victoria's bike up because she is too big for it. I asked Louis where Victoria was and he freaked out. I had a feeling she was outside and she was. Her bike was folded in half in the garage. She had gone outside, unfolded it and started to ride it. I was dying laughing because she is just so big. So, I took both girls outside after getting on a coat and shoes. They both rode the bike. Victoria would be going so fast down the driveway that she would fall over and laugh. She was pushing her sister on the bike and they both fell over. It was just so cute to see them both outside riding the bike and enjoying it.

Modeling

2010-02-05T12:43:00.000-08:00

I am getting the girls into modeling and acting. I have 3 agencies that want them both and have a few more interviews to go to. I may sign up with two and see how it happens. Victoria is excited about it all. I had Kenny take some head shots of the girls and of course they are just beautiful.

1st Dentist Appointment

2010-01-09T18:33:00.000-08:00

Victoria had her 1st dentist visit. She did such a GREAT job. We tried to take x-rays but she would gag. She did not complain about it just gaged so we will try next time. She did not want to touch any of the instruments but she let Annie clean her teeth. She polished them, flossed, a little scaling and then fluoride. Dr. Brett did her exam and she had no cavities. She loved it so much. She uses her 2 minute timer every time she brushes and makes sure to get out her floss every night to floss. She had her picture taken and it is on the No Cavity board at the dentist office for all to see. She got a treat bag with lots of goodies in it and she will have her picture sent to her in about a month with a special treat. I was so proud of her. She is such a wonderful little girl.

Waiting patiently for her appt to begin

Dr.Brett, Annie and Victoria

Victoria's 3rd Birthday

2010-01-02T08:49:00.000-08:00

Well, as of right this minute at 9:51am 3 years ago my little girl was 1 hr and 37 mins old. I cannot believe that 3 years have already gone by. She is such a beautiful little girl and I can just see the beautiful woman that she is going to become. We are pretty sure that she will have a career invloving animals. She has loved them for about 2 years now and loves to watch animal planet and learn about the animals. She loves the Zoo of course. She is a girl who cares about everyone. She wants to know how you are doing and will take care of you if you are ill. She is learning patience and that is hard. She loves to cook and bake with me. If I am in the kitchen you can guarantee that she will be in there with me. She has a lot of chores she does now, set the table, wash dishes, put silverware away, out groceries away, feed the dish, give Hercules water, let him in and out for potty and other daily things...make her bed and put toys away. If someone else tries to do her chore she will tell you that it is her job.

The Birthday Girl

The Birthday Girl and Elizabeth

We celebrated her birthday at the bowling alley. It was so much fun. They had the room decorated in purple and white because that is what Victoria wanted her colors to be. We first did some bowling, ate pizza, ate cake and ice cream, opened presents and then played some games. The kids who was mostly all girls but one boy had a blast bowling. The bowling alley gave her a bowling pin which all the kids signed and a t-shirt.

Her presents she received are:

Mama, Papa and Elizabeth got her a Toyota FJ Cruiser Princess Vehicle

Mamaw got her a Barbie, 2 Playdoh sets, Jewlery box and Bendaroos

Campbell Family got her a Dr Kit

Megan got her a Fancy Nancy Dress Up Game

Arianna got her a Dora Dress Up Outfit

Brooke and Tinity got her a Snow White Doll

Mary and Dimitri got her Lunar Sand and a coloring page

I made her bowling cake and it was a lot of fun but also a lot of work frosting it.

I put her FJ Cruiser together last night and her and Elizabeth cannot stay out of it. They love playing in it and driving it. Victoria will tell her Sister that she needs to be her passenger and Elizabeth gets in and turns on the radio. Today they were in that thing from the time they got up till it was bath time. We played her Fancy Nancy game and that was a lot of fun. She has played with her Bendaroos and Lunar Sand. She loves her Dr Kit. I think today she gave me 500 shots and checked my blood pressure 100 times. She loves to play make believe and I love watching her. Elizabeth loves to be right next to her doing everything she is doing.

It was a great 3rd birthday and I look forward to many more with her.

Sledding and snowmen

2010-01-02T08:14:00.001-08:00

Well, as usually it has been snowing here in Tooele. We decided that we needed to make our first snowman and Elizabeth's first also. Elizabeth hates to be in her snow suit and boots but she did a lot better this time. She reminds me of the little boy on Christmas Story...I've fallen and can't get up. We biult it on the deck and Hercules as usual ate the carrots. After we built our snowman we took the girls for rides on the sled. Elizabeth LOVED it so much. We would lay her on her tummy and she would just laugh and smile the whole time. She hated taking turns and letting Victoria ride but she did it. We had a little bump and I would take the girls over it fast and Victoria fell off one time and just laughed. Elizabeth would just laugh when she would go over it. Then we took the girls over to the park for a bigger hill and had so much fun. Both the girls would go down the hill b themselves. We let them race and they loved it. Elizabeth fell off the sled at one point and just laughed. Victoria would try to walk up the hill and would fall down because it was steep and slippery.
We are having them time of our lives with out girls and it is so much fun to watch them grow up. I know I say it a lot but I love being their mom and love being at home with them, even though sometimes it gets stressful. When I do leave them I have a broken heart and cannot wait to be with them again.

Elizabeth

Victoria

Elizabeth 15 months old

2009-12-17T07:02:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth had her 15 month check-up yesterday. She weighs 21lbs 11oz, 30 1/4 inches long and her head is 46.5cm. She is in the 50th percentile in everything but her head is in the 75th percentile....for her big brain. She has all 16 of her teeth in...just waiting on the 2 year old molars. She can crawl up and down the staris, walks and runs everywhere, makes animal sounds, shakes her head yes and says mama, dada, sissy, milk, juice, please, minnie, seahorse, uh-oh, yucky, kaka and yes. She is a bringht little girl...when I tell her it's time for bed, she will kiss everyone good night and go to her room. She still hates her teeth being brushed and loves to still suck her thumb and touch our tummies. She is the clown of the family. At night she will start to pace around the room, stop, start to laugh and dance and then do it again. When getting ready for a bath she will fart and just laugh because she thinks it is funny. One night while getting out of the bath, I was brushing Victoria's hair and Elizabeth was handing me something, I grabbed it and it was poop. She had squatted down, pooped and wanted to hand it to me. She went to grab more and I was yelling yucky and she just laughed. She brings so much laughter into our lives. I love her very much and cannot wait to see what the future holds for her.

Victoria now sleeps in her bed without a bed rail. I was scared the first night of her falling out but she did not. She will be 3 in 2 short weeks.

The Nutcracker

2009-12-14T05:43:00.000-08:00

Victoria had her Ballet recital on December 5th. She was a mouse and a snowflake in The Nutcracker. The mice had to run around on stage and play dead at the end when the mouse king died....but Victoria watched the Nutcracker and Mouse King fight and then when all the mice left the stage she stayed behind because she wanted to pick up the mouse king's sword.

They changed from a mouse into a snowflake. She comes out on stage and they circle around the Snow Queen...but Victoria decided to sit behind the Queen and play with her snowflake wands, she did get up and dance around her. One of the girls' snowflake wands got caught in the SnowQueen's tutu and she tried to get it out but failed and then one of the little snowflakes also tried to get it out and it was so cute.

Her Papa gave her 3 yellow and 3 pink roses afterwards and she was so happy to get her flowers. As you can see on her face. We went back to our house with close family and friends and had spaghetti. french bread, salad and yummy ballerina cupcakes.

As a mother, I am just so very proud of her and all that she does. I cried when I saw her on stage and at that very moment I looked at her and thought that she is growing up to be such a beautiful little girl...she is no longer my baby.

Family Pictures

2009-12-01T09:24:00.000-08:00

There is an old barn by our house and a feed tower of some sort that I thought would be awesome for pictures. I had my friend take the pictures and they turned out pretty good. We needed some new ones with Hercules in them.

Elizabeth and her Seahorse

2009-11-07T10:47:00.000-08:00

Our good neighbors got this Seahorse for her 1st birthday. At first she liked it and then wanted nothing to do with it. Now, she loves it, sleeps with it and takes it everywhere with her. She loves to push it's tummy to play the music and then snuggle with it.

DISNEYLAND

2009-10-26T18:49:00.000-07:00

Our 1st family vacation since Elizabeth has been born. We went to Disneyland for 3 days and had the best time ever. We left for the airport at 5:15am Monday and our plane left at 7:30am. We flew Jet Blue and it was so fun. They had TV's for everyone and the snacks were great. We will fly with them again. The girls liked the plane ride, Victoria and Louis took a nap but Elizabeth was up the whole time. We went to the beach and Downtown Disney for some shoping. We went swimming at the pool. We got Victoria some arm floaties and she loved them and swam by herself. Elizabeth loved the pool too...she would splash all around and put her face in the water.

Tuesday was our 1st day at Disneyland. The girls woke up at 6am and we were eating breakfast by 7am. When we got into the gates we were met by Goofy dressed up in a skeleton costume. He came right up to Victoria and asked her for a raisin. She gave him one and he ate it. Then we went over to Mickey and she wanted nothing to do with him. Elizabeth was not too sure about him but was OK for a minute and then she too started to freak out. Elizabeth did not like the dressed up characters but she loved the Princesses and Tinker Bell and friends. We went through Sleeping Beauty's Castle, Jungle Cruise, Tiki room, Pirates, Snow White, King Arthur's Carousel, It's A Small World and that was all we had time because we waited in line for 3 hours to see the Princesses. We waited the first time 1.5 hrs and then when we were shopping we saw different ones so we got back in line for another 1.5 hrs and ended up only seeing one new one and not three, but it was OK because Victoria loved it. Victoria got Cinderella's dress, glass slippers and a tiara; Elizabeth got a tiara and a Tinker Bell halo and I also got a Tiara. Elizabeth took a nap in the stroller and so did Victoria. We did not get home until about 9pm, the girls fell asleep on the way home so I had to wake them up to give them baths...not fun.

Wednesday we went to Disneyland first thing to ride on a few rides before heading to California Adventure. While the girls were asleep Louis and I went on Tower of Terror...forgot how thrilling that ride is. Then we met Snow White and went to the Muppet 3D show and Playhouse Disney show. We went to Ursula's cave to sing a song and Found out which Disney Character Victoria is most like...Jane from Tarazan. We met Minnie on our way to go eat at Ariel's Grotto with the Princesses. We had our photo taken with Ariel and then we sat down to eat some awesome food. Belle, Cinderella, Aurora and Snow White came to our table. The dessert was so goooood and so was the rest of the meal, well worth the money. We bought some Mr.Potato head parts, ate some ice cream and then watched the Disney Pixar Parade. Then of course headed back to Disneyland for some more fun. Went on Finding Nemo, saw Tinker Bell and freinds, Jungle Cruise again along with Tiki room. Went on Dumbo which the girls loved and the Tea Cups. Again we got home at around 9:30pm. My girls were going to bed late every night and waking up early by themselves.

Thursday...our last day. We went on Splash Mountain and Victoria said she liked it but did not want to do that again. I went on it with my mom. We went on Winnie The Pooh and ate some yummy treats. We met Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger. Victoria gave them all a hug and was not scared at all. We went on all the rides she liked the best this day. It was just a mellow day of riding whatever she wanted. We went to California Adventure while the girls were napping and went on Soaring Over California and that was great. Victoria was not tall enough to go on that ride. My mom was nervous to go on it and then once it started she loved it but said she would not do it again. We left the park early finally like around 5pm. We ate some dinner and then went swimming in the pool.

We left for the aiport at 5am Friday morning and our plane left at 7am. The girls were not very happy on this ride home. Elizabeth finally fell asleep as we took off and Victoria just wanted out of her car seat. It was good to be home. Saturday morning Victoria asked if we were going to Disneyland today and then Sunday she asked to go on the Pirate's ride. She loved it. We are going to DisneyWorld in 3 years and I cannot wait to take them again. Victoria will be 6 and Elizabeth will be just months away from 5. It will be so much fun.

Elizabeth 13 months

2009-10-26T18:46:00.000-07:00

So, my little baby is no longer a little baby. She has 10 teeth and still has two more molars about to pop in anyday now. She says; boo, hi, mom, mama, dada, woof woof, quack, meow and the letter A. She can walk but chooses not to. She will walk between two people and take like 15-20 steps but if I just let her hand go and want her to walk....she will take a ew steps, stop and stand there for a few seconds and then sit down to crawl. She is such a little turkey head. She has a temper like no other. If one of us makes her mad she will start to scream and turn away from us. If her sister takes something from her she will hit her while screaming. But even with her temper I love that little girl so much. She is just so dang cute and her little smile she gives you just melts your heart into a million pieces.

One Year Check-up

2009-09-23T21:50:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth had her check-up today. She weighs 19lbs and in the 10th percentile, 29 1/4 inches and in the 50th percentile and her head is 45.5 and in the 50th percentile. She had to get two shots today including the flu shot and her iron level checked. She cried when she had her heel pricked and was given her shots but the sucker made everything all better. I still cannot believe that my baby is one. I have no idea where time has gone. I have loved every minute of this last year with her...watching her grow up. She has taken 3-4 steps on her own and she gets so excited about it. She still says just Dada and Mama but she is getting close to saying other words. She can point to my nose, eye and mouth and she laughs about it when she does. She does not really like cow's milk yet she still prefers mommy's milk. There is nothing that this little girl will not or has not eaten. She is growing up too fast and there is nothing that I can do to stop her.

Happy 1st Birthday Elizabeth

2009-09-19T20:19:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth's birthday was on September 16 and it was a fun day. I woke her up in the morning singing Happy Birthday to her and she just smiled at me. We had her 1st birthday pictures and family pictures, went to Toys R Us to buy her her present and she got a birthday crown and balloon then we went to Red Robin to eat and she got another balloon and a free Mud Pie.

Today, Saturday we celebrated her birthday with friends and family. I want to thank Papa, Victoria, Mamaw and Campbell family, Nana Ann, Bailey family, Gubler family, Cindy and Angie, Leisa, Kris, Adreinne and Gracen, Shafer family, Monique and family, Ashley and girls, Auntie Moy and family, and Dr. Mike Wells family. It was a GREAT party. We ate really good food...chicken salad crossiant sandwiches, salads, chips and ice cream drink.

Leisa Bankhead made her cakes and they were BEAUTIFUL!!!

We opened presents and she got a lot of wonderful gifts.

I put Elizabeth in her highchair to get ready to sing to her and she started to cry, so Papa took her and settled her down. Then she was OK until we started to sing and she cried again. We served everyone cake and then I tried to get her to eat her cake again and she went for it. She just stuck her face right in it and ate it. She was seriously covered from head to knees...just look at the photos.

We poped opened the pinata and the kids had fun jumping on the tramp.

It was such a fun party and I am so greateful for the wonderful friends and family that celebrated it with us. It was hard to know that my baby is now one. It feels like just yesterdau she was still inside me growing like a weed and now she is here growing like a weed. I am so very thankful that she is a part of our lives and she brings so much character to our lives. She is my little wild child and she keeps me on my toes. Elizabeth Quintana I love you so very much. You will always and forever be my little jelly bean.

My pirate girls...oh how I love them sooooo much!!!

My girls

2009-09-14T22:30:00.001-07:00

I take a lot of pictures of the girls so I need to catch up before Elizabeth's birthday. Victoria is 2.5 years old and Elizabeth is 11 months...for one more day.

My lion in the grass

Victoria fell asleep between our couches

Loving her baby

Pushing her bike

Zoo Time

2009-09-14T22:24:00.000-07:00

Our family

We bought an annual pass to the Zoo and we go just about every week or every other. We took Aunt Jody twice while she was here for 2 weeks. Mamaaw went one day with us and so did Papa. Here are some great pictures that we took.

Daddy Tigger looking at his woman and babies

Aunt Jody and girls

Mamaw and girls

Two of the three baby Tiggers playing

Playing in the rain

2009-09-14T22:20:00.000-07:00

We bought the girls matching rain boots a few months ago. Victoria loves to wear her's and today when it was raining she could not wait to put them on and go play in the puddles. I put some play clothes on her and let her go get wet. Elizabeth got in on the action too. She was laughing so hard at watching Victoria splash in the water. She kept trying to get her boots off and put her little piggies in the water. It was so much fun but so cold!!! Brrrrrrrrrrrr

The start of Football season means....

2009-09-13T10:40:00.000-07:00

Our girls have to wear their Denver Broncos cheerleading outfits. Papa is so proud when the girls wear them...even if the Coach is a stupid butt. Louis says he hopes the Broncos lose every game this season to show McDaniels what a joke he is. But never the less here are the girls supporting their Papa's team.

Victoria's dance

2009-08-30T20:51:00.000-07:00

OK, so I forgot that I had this taped until now when I just found it. This was taken earlier this year in her first dance class. She is now taking Ballet with Melissa Swan and they will perform The Nutcracker this winter. She is on the far right and then the video is a close up of just her.

Victoria being silly

2009-08-15T21:16:00.001-07:00

She is soooo beautiful!!!

So, we were outside playing on day and she kept running at me growling like a dinosaur. So, I decided to take photos of her running to me and it was so funny.

A first for Elizabeth

2009-08-15T21:11:00.000-07:00

So finally I can put her hair in a pony tail. She hates it. When I am trying to put it in, she screams at me and pushes my hands away. Then after I get it in she will put the bow and rubber band out. She is such a little monster sometimes but man I love that little girl. She can crawl up the stairs now, she crawls like an army girl and on all fours, she walks all over the place and trys to let go of the furniture and walk by herself but falls down and she will walk pushing her toys. She is growing up way too fast for me. Next month my baby will be 1 years old...having a BIG party to celebrate.

Victoria Swimming Lessons

2009-08-15T21:04:00.000-07:00

OK, so I was thinking that I was going to do the mommy and me class but no...Victoria was put in the 3-4 year old class and she is 2 1/2 yrs old. I was not ready for that but she did GREAT!!! She fit right in with the other kids, she blew bubbles, back float, front float, jumped in, went under the water and had a great time. She is just growing up way too fast for me and I am not ready for all of this yet.

Her class and teachers...she is kicking her feet.

Back float

Blowing bubbles

Going down the slide

Elizabeth Swimming Lessons

2009-07-10T20:14:00.000-07:00

This week Elizabeth started her swimming lessons for two weeks. She loves the water and is doing great. She had a great first two days and then when Papa and Sister came to watch her she just cried. She had been up since 5:45am that morning and was just done by 9am for lessons. All in all though she did a good job. She loves to lay on the kick boards and swim around the pool. She kicks her feet while swimming around the pool. She hates to do bobs but what kid really likes them. She kicks her feet while sitting on edge of pool, jumps off the edge, kicks her feet on her back and front while going around the pool and walks in and out the pool. She really enjoys going and just has a blast.

Our class
She is not very happy in this picture.

She can now say Mama and I am soooooooooo excited. She crawls so fast, pulls herself up on things, gets to a sitting position by herself and she loves to be with her Mama. If I leave the room she will freak out and start to cry. She is doing so good. She drinks really well from a cup now, sucks from a straw and does the silliest things. She would crawl under her exersaucer and then get stuck and start to scream, I would tell her that she needs to get out and she would. She is just such a joy.

10 Wonderful Years

2009-06-30T14:03:00.000-07:00

On June 29th we celebrated our 10th anniversary. We went to dinner on the 26th to Sostanza here in town and it was GREAT!!! We had crab cakes, Combino Salad (candied pecans, dried cranberries, roman lettuce and a yummy vinaigrette dressing), I had Chicken Penne and Louis had Linguine with Lump Crab and then we had dessert.....I have strawberry cheesecake and Louis had truffles with raspberry sauce and some sort of sorbet. We LOVED it and are already planning our next trip back. I gave Louis a Titanium wedding band, Dirty Dancing DVD and Star Trek The Next Generation Season 1 DVD set. He is going to fix my wedding band or get a new one...we have not decided yet on that one.
It has been a wonderful 10 years sharing it with him. We have a beautiful marriage and two beautiful girls to be thankful for. 10 years is bringing a lot of change but change can be good. Thank you Louis for being my husband, my friend and my partner in life. I love you all that way to the moon and back.

Elizabeth 9 months

2009-06-10T21:39:00.001-07:00

So, my baby girl is 9 months now...well actually on the 16th but she had her check-up. She weighs 16lbs 8ozs and it 27.5 inches tall. She can sit, crawl (army crawl), walk holding onto my fingers, stand up holding onto furniture and she says Dada. I try to get her to say Mama and she just laughs. She loves it when I have her point to my eyes, nose and mouth. She eats no baby food and if I would let her she would eat a whole peanut and butter sandwich. She eats a banana, one egg, 1 slice of toast and nurses for breakfast. She is a piggy like her sister but not a weight gainer. She is so fun to be around. She does have an attitude, if Victoria takes something from her man she screams and yells at her..it is so dang funny. Victoria loves to go and help get her up in the morning and Elizabeth just lights up when she sees her sister. She is so active. She still has her two bottom teeth..working on her four top teeth still for the past 2 months...they come and go...very frustrating. We are honestly having the time of our lives with our little girls and nothing would make me happier than I am now staying at home with them and having them both in my life. They keep me coming and going and I love it. I don't know what I would do without them both. They are such little lovers and they just ooze love to the ones they know. Raising them and watching them grow has been the best times in my life and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for us. They both just honestly feel my heart and then some with so much love and I LOVE being their mother. I have never been so happy in my life as I am now. I want to tell my little girls that I love them more than I could ever tell them or show them. They are my life and I would not have it any other way. Mommy love you both more than anything. Hugs and kisses always.

Victoria's Dance

2009-06-08T15:12:00.000-07:00

So, Victoria has been in dance since January and she loves it. She knows her routine by heart but doing it for her teacher is another story. Her dance is to a Tinker Bell song and their ourfit is Tinker Bell. She has done it a few times for her but she will always do it for me. She danced for the first time on Saturday at Deseret Peak. She got on stage and she walked to the center looked out at the audience and just smiled and played with her wand. She did not dance but that is OK, she is only 2 years old. She dances again this Friday and I will take video on my camera to post here.

Victoria and Elizabeth

2009-05-30T21:03:00.000-07:00

So, when Victoria was a baby her best friend, Gracie would push her around in a baby doll stoller. My mom bought Victoria one and she loved to be pushed in it. Now, that she has a sister she wants to push her in it. I let her do it and Elizabeth just loved it. Victoria goes really fast and I am afraid that Elizabeth will fall out but she loves it so much. Elizabeth just sits there all relaxed and laughs. My girls are so silly.

Earlier this week Elizabeth started to crawl. She gets on her knees and uses her arms not her hands...I call it the army crawl. It is so fun to watch her as she will be in one place and a second later somewhere else. I never went through this with Victoria as she never crawled. My baby girl is growing up way to fast. But we are having the time of our life.

Victoria's 1st haircut

2009-05-25T15:03:00.000-07:00

So, I know she is 2 yrs old but she is a girl and did not need her haircut. I took her to my best friend and her Auntie Kari. She got about a half inch cut off and her hair came back with more curls. she did so well. She sat still for her and then she got her candy for being such a big girl. She was so excited to get her haircut and she kept asking me if I was done yet, as I went first for a haircut. I think that she is good for another 2 years. I took some pics hope you enjoy.

My Birthday

2009-05-15T19:06:00.000-07:00

So, I am 32 now. I do not feel that old at all and as a matter of fact I was told that I act older than my age...that is good. My girls, mom, best friend, her kids, her mom and another friend went to lunch like we always do. I got some shirts, earring, shoes, scrapbooking kit, scrapbooking gift certficate, pj's and my Cricut carrying bag. It was a good day.

My Beautiful Girls

2009-05-09T18:59:00.001-07:00

Elizabeth is now 7 mos and doing great. She is cutting 6 teeth in and 2 are already in. Victoria is also doing great and still loves being a big sister as you can see in the picture.

Giving her sister a drink

Giving her sister kisses

Still sucks that thumb sometimes

Zoo

2009-05-09T18:50:00.000-07:00

We bought a Zoo pass for this year and I have taken the girls every month since February when we got it, sometimes we go twice or more a month. We have been having so much fun. We have to see the Elephants, Giraffes, Rhinos, Turtles and then ride the Carousel two times. If we see other animals it is OK but Victoria has to see these ones. Here are some pics from three trips ago. And luckily the only thing that Victoria wants to buy are tatoos and they are chaep...so as many trips to the zoo that we are making I get out paying nothing really and that is good.

All the kids

A lot of firsts

2009-04-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth is cutting her first tooth and another one is right behind it. She getting ready to crawl soon I think. Louis left us for two weeks on a business trip. The girls and I went to our Uncle's house in Wyoming. I got stung by a wasp in my boob....that REALLY hurt badly. Victoria can count to 15 by herself and 20 with help. She knows her ABC song and can recognize some of the letters.

I have been trying to teach Elizabeth to say mommy and she just looks at me and smiles. She is so dang funny. Victoria is still the best big sister that anyone could ask for. She is such a little mommy. She tells me that Elizabeth is her baby and if I tell her she is mine she will respond with we all share her. It is so cute.

We are planning our first offical family trip to Disneyland in October. My mom and God daughter, Ashely are going with us. I am RELALY excited to go and so is Victoria. She talks about it a lot.

Time is going quickly

2009-04-17T20:22:00.000-07:00

My baby just turned 7 months and my oldest is 2. It seems like yesterday that I had Elizabeth and it seems like ages since I had Victoria. My girls are growing up way too fast even if I do not want them too. I do find myself holding Elizabeth back a little such as; I just started to let her sit in the high chair at resturants and let her feed real food by herself and not feed her. I just want them to stay little for a longer period of time. I find myself looking at pictures of Victoria when she was a baby and I can hardly remember that time in my life. She is so mature for her age and is such a lovely little girl. Elizabeth just loves to watch her sister and learn from her. It is hard for me because we are done having babies and I love being pregnant and going through labor. I would have a million if I could. I enjoy my girls more than anything else on this planet and I am so VERY thankful that they are in my life. I just recently cried when I heard a song on the radio...it is called My Cinderella. A boy is asking a father for his daughter's hand in marriage and I bawled because someday a boy will take both of my girls away from us and it will break my heart. Victoria heard me crying and wiped my tears away and told me not to cry. She is so darling and caring. I think of their future so much and at times I am so excited for them to experience all that life has in store for them and other times it breaks me heart to think of them all grown up. I honestly could not be any happier in my life. I have the best husband who allows me to stay home and take care of our girls. Then I have the best two little girls that a mother could ever ask for. I am blessed in so many ways and I could never put into words how I feel about the 3 of them. As the saying goes in, Guess How Much I Love You..I love them to the moon and back.

Elizabeth's Funny Face

2009-04-11T13:02:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth does this funny thing with her face and it is so cute and funny. She will scrunch up her nose and snort. She loves it when you laugh at her and do it back to her. She will keep doing it as long as you either laugh or do it too. She has been doing this for months now and I just kept forgetting to video it. She is growing up so fast and it is sad. She is my last baby and I want her to be a baby forever but she wants to grow up.

We made it to 27 months....

2009-03-31T15:15:00.000-07:00

It all started last Wednesday...Victoria had a clear runny nose and was coughing. She would cough so hard that she would puke. I thought it was just allergies because Louis has them badly and the pollen count was high. She gets bloody noses really easily and I have to put Vaseline in her nose every night. Well, I was not because she had a runny nose. She woke up Friday with a bloody nose that was like a faucet. It did not stop until that night and she had a fever. I called the Dr and had an appt on Saturday. I cancelled it because she was not coughing anymore, no more bloody nose and no fever. Her runny nose turned into a greenish yellow. Well, last night she woke up at 3:30am telling me her ear hurt. I took her to the Dr today and she has a double ear infection. This is the first time she has ever been sick in her 27 months of life. It is very sad but she is doing great. She has an antibiotic and ear drops.

Victoria and her baby

2009-03-21T16:20:00.000-07:00

Victoria got a Baby Alive learns to potty and she loves this doll. The baby will tell her that she has to go potty and Victoria will put her on the potty. She really does pee and poop. She feeds her food and gives her milk (water). The baby will tell her if she had an accident, if she is hungry or thirsty, wants to play, to hug her, give her a kiss or if she is tired. Victoria just loves her and loves to play with her. She is really good at changing her diaper and putting her on the potty. I got it on video on day. Hope you enjoy.

6 months and growing fast

2009-03-19T09:41:00.001-07:00

Elizabeth had her 6 month appointment. She weighs 14lbs 15oz and is 26.5 inches long. She grew 1 inch and 1/2 lb in 2 months. She eats 4oz of rice cereal for breakfast, 1 jar of veggies and 1 jar of fruit for lunch and dinner plus she still nurses 5-6 times a day. She is so long that I put her in 12 month pajamas last night and they fit. I will put a picture of her in them. She rolls over and sits up now. She loves to eat Gerber puffs. She has tried mashed potatoes, french fries, yellow cake and eggs. She likes them all. She had to get 2 shots yesterday and she did not cry at all, I was so proud of her. She still sucks her thumb and she loves it so much. She was sleeping throught the night but the past 2 weeks she has been waking up at 4am to nurse. She loves balloons and going for walks in the stroller. She loves to take baths with her sister. Victoria likes to pour water on her and Elizabeth just laughs and laughs. When I am reading her a story she tries to eat the books. Anything that I have within her reach she reaches for it and tries to put it in her mouth. We just love her so much.

Victoria loves to play dress up. I bought her a Snow White outfit and she wears it everywhere including the shoes. It is so cute. She can sing the ABC song. She is growing up to be such a beautiful little girl. She is such a little mommy and it is so cute. She takes care of her sister and helps me with her a lot.

I would not know what I would do without both of my little girls in my life. I am just having the time of my life. We got a year pass to the Zoo and have went twice already in the past month. Victoria just wants to spend hours with the Giraffes. I tell her we have to go but she starts to cry because she does not want to leave them. We are going to Disneyland this fall and the Circus. Victoria talks about Disneyland all the time now that I told her we are going. It will be so much fun.

Picture time

2009-03-03T18:57:00.000-08:00

Took the girls to have their pictures done. I had Elizabeth in three outfit changes and Victoria in two. By the end Elizabeth would not cooperate to have pictures taken with her sister. I did get some cute pictures of the girls seperately. Last time Victoria was not cooperating and this time it was Elizabeth. She was fine until I gave her to Victoria to hold and she would start to cry. It was so funny. When Victoria was 5 mos old I had these certain photos taken and I had Elizabeth's done in the same dress and same 3 poses. It will be so cool to have them framed next to each other.

My cutie pie

2009-02-25T21:14:00.000-08:00

We bought Victoria a Baby Alive Goes Potty. She loves her baby so much. She feeds it, gives it a bottle and the baby will tell her that she is hungry, thirsty and that she has to go potty. Victoria will put her on her potty and then she really pees in the toilet, sometimes Victoria does not make it to the potty and her baby will say she had an accident or made a stinky. It is so dang cute.
Lately Victoria has been saying the funniest things. She will tell her Papa, with her hand extended, to just relax. Today at lunch she told us to turn out heads and look at the clocks on the wall, she physically moved her Papa's head to see them. We were at Kohl's, she was running and told her Papa to hurry up slow poke. If I ask her where she put something, she will tell me it is OK and that we will find it and not to worry. We picked up Hercules from the Groomer and she told him that he smelled good and looked pretty. She is just so funny and says things that I don't even think of.

Elizabeth is growing up so fast. She loves her food. Her sister tickles her and makes her laugh. She is turning 6 months old and wears 9 month clothes. She is very inquisitive about people. She will look at them in a way that she is trying to get their attention and then she smiles at them. We took her to the Zoo for the first time and on the carousel she laughed and giggled like she was saying how much fun she was having.

I am having the time of my life with my girls and could not be any happier. They bring more joy to my life than I could ever imagine they would. I am just head over heels in love with them both so much.

2009 Sweetheart Pageant

2009-02-07T13:44:00.000-08:00

I entered the girls in a pageant. It was fun but stressful too. I was so nervous going on stage with them and shaking. Elizabeth had 3 others girls in her category. She won 2nd attendant. Victoria had 6 other girls in hers and won Most Beautiful. They both got trophies and a teddy bear. Here are some pics of the girls with their winnings. When Victoria was on stage she did a ballerina relevA (on her tip toes, arms in a circle above her head and turns in a circle). It was so cute and the audience all said ahhhhh. Then when we were walking off stage she grabbed one of the teddy bears and I told her she had to wait, it was so cute.

Elizabeth

Victoria

4 Months and growing strong

2009-01-22T15:58:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth had her 4 month appointment and she is doing great. Her stats are:
Weight - 14lbs 7oz 75% percentile
Height - 25.5 inches 95% percentile
Head - 41.3 75% percentile

She is 9 inches shorter than Victoria and 10lbs lighter. She is really tall and already wearing 9 month shirts for the length. She has been wearing them for about a month now.
She had to get 2 shots and she did great. When she got her first shot she did not cry and then she just whined for a minute with the second shot. She did well the rest of the day and was just a little crabby at night. She turns herself around in her exersaucer and brings all the toys to her mouth. On day I had her in her play pen sleeping in the corner and when I looked at her she had moved to the other corner and was playing with her toys (she was on her belly). She loves to sleep on her belly. She goes to bed at about 8pm and wakes up around 4am for a feeding. Then she is up at 5am and 6am for feedings and then wakes up at about 8am. She is eating rice cereal every night now and LOVES it. She grabs the spoon and shoves it in her mouth. She LOVES to suck her thumb. If she is not nursing she has her thumb in her mouth. She loves to be read to and tries to eat the book and Victoria will tell her don't eat the book sissy. She laughs so cute and I tried to get it on video for you to see. Just excuse the closeness that I get with the camera as it is hard to make her laugh and tape at the same time. Just today she reached for me while her Mamaw was holding her. She LOVES to talk and smile. All you have to do it look at her and she smiles her biggest smile and starts to talk to you.