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.

4th of july

we spent the 4th of july at my parent's house.  we barbecued (the missionaries joined us for dinner), roasted marshmallows in the fire pit, had a fireworks show in the front yard and then drove to green valley ranch to watch a beautiful, huge fireworks show that lasted 10-15 minutes.  it was a wonderful evening to celebrate this great country.  

georgie "helping" papa steve grill carne asada...

mia waiting for the fireworks show to begin...

georgie's first ever sparkler...

i couldn't help but include this picture - i laugh every time i see it!

george is a little unsure about these things...

this is the view from my parent's front yard.  i love the sunsets in las vegas.

my dad decided to make his own fireworks show by lighting a firework and then throwing it in the air.  it worked pretty well a couple of times.

mia is our wincer.  i always look forward to the 4th of july because she just winces the night away...

rusty's b-day

russ wanted to celebrate his 32nd birthday by going to town square to let the kids play in the water and then eating at california pizza kitchen.  mia must be his daughter since that's exactly what she wanted to do to celebrate her dance recital!  it was a fun evening...

mia had the most fun of all splashing and running in the water.  when it was time for dinner she protested with a big "why do we have to eat dinner?"

george didn't quite figure out that different jets spray at different times, so he took it in the face more than once.  this picture was taken just after one of those times.

the night before russ's birthday party, mia decided that she wanted to make him a cubs cake.  this is the best i could come up with on such short notice.