grandma time

my mom and dad stopped by for a visit one evening just before the kids' bedtime.  my mom read story after story to the kids.  when it was finally time to go upstairs  to get ready for bed both kids protested.  mia said, "can we read just one more story?" and george simply said "noooooo!"  i wouldn't want to leave grandma's lap either!

a visit from the pauls

mia & abby

sydney, sammi, katie & george

my friend all the way back from junior high, sammi paul, was visiting las vegas from california.  we were fortunate enough to spend the afternoon with them.  the kids had a great time playing together, and sam and i had a great time catching up.  i wish they lived closer, but luckily we get to see them a couple of times a year.

movie theater

one afternoon while george was sleeping and i was picking up the house, mia created her own movie theater.  after she had everything all set up, she asked me if i'd like to come and watch the show with her.  how could i possibly say "no"???  i love how imaginative mia is.  she makes me feel young and silly all over again.

"i am a child of God"

we recently had a family home evening on being God's children and being created in His image.  the kids are sure proud of their divine, heavenly heritage!

addition to my art collection

i love collecting original art.  i don't have a ton of it, but i have a few original pieces throughout our home.  i was at a neighbor's house recently, and she had commissioned shauna lewis (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6049546) to do these black and white portraiture paintings of her kids.  i thought they were very striking and i liked the idea of having some original portraiture of my kids!  both pictures are from when the kids were 10 months old, which is my favorite baby age, so i thought it was a good time in their lives to capture!  here, i have the original photo next to the finished painting for comparison.

dinner downtown

my brother, skaught, lives in a modern loft downtown; he recently had us over for a delicious sunday dinner.  he lives in a really cool building with a pool and gym on the roof!  there is an incredible view of the city from up there as well as from his balcony (he lives on the 14th floor).

our two little girls??

one sunday morning, the kids were upstairs having a grand ol' time playing while russ and i were cleaning up breakfast.  we came upstairs to get them ready for church, and this is what we found!  now, i have heard that older sisters force their young brothers to dress up, but usually the younger brothers protest.  the only protesting george did was when i put a diaper on him (yes, he was commando!) and when i took him out of his fairy costume to put on a boring church outfit.

katie's dora & diego dance party!

katie krieg turned 2 and had a fun dora and diego dance party!  mia and george were looking forward to it all week long!  george, however, immediately decided that dora was much scarier in "person" than on t.v.  he spent most of the time on my lap.  mia loved every second, though!  she learned some sweet dance moves, went on a treasure hunt for candy and was mesmerized by a magic trick in which diego, with the help of the kids of course,  turned a bunch of ingredients into a cupcake.

russ's office

russ got his own office at work, oh, about 2 years ago, and we have never been to see it!  we have wanted to, but i have always had a child napping or somewhere to take mia.  now that george is only napping in the afternoon, we were able to visit russ at work and visit with his co-workers.  he has a great office with a lot of shelf space where he can display a bunch of his collections and keepsakes.  after we took the work tour, we went to my grandparent's house to have some lunch.  they showed us all around their vegetable and flower gardens, which mia loved.  i think she is going to be a horticulturalist.

play date with katiebug

our friends, candice and katie, came to visit for a little play date.  i have known candice since the 7th grade, and i just love her to death!  she is a true blue friend for sure.  her daughter, katie, is about 7 weeks older than george, and she is a total ham (if you can't tell by the pictures)...i think she got her mama's sense of humor.  we had a fun day playing and wish we lived closer to them so that we could play more often.

visiting grandma jo

my grandma jo is almost 99 years old, so we take advantage of seeing her whenever we can.  she lives in st. george now with my uncle, and the last two times that i had been through st. george she was in northern utah staying with my aunts.  because it had been awhile since we had seen her, we drove to st. george to visit.  we only stayed an hour and a half because we didn't want to wear her out, but it was definitely worth it to spend time with her.  it's amazing how sharp her mind still is (she remembered all of our names and knew what we all were up to) and how quick witted she is (she cracked some jokes about us having more kids).

swimming lessons

mia recently took swimming lessons at the rec center.  the class was supposed to last for two weeks, but the pool pump broke, so the first week was canceled.  she learned quite a bit in only four days, though.  she learned how to propel herself by kicking, blow bubbles with her nose and mouth in the water and jump in the pool.