Happy November!

I can hardly believe it's the Holiday Season now. What happened to summer?! Why does time seem to go so fast these days? I was so excited to do a triathalon, but I haven't worked on my swimming. The race is next Saturday, so I opted not to go next week. It looks like the Sand Hollow Aquatic Center does it twice a year. So the next one is in April. I am shooting for that one. The good thing is that I have started excercising again! Yesterday I ran 1.5mi and then biked 5 miles right after. Not the easiest thing I have ever done, but I'm working on it! I was pretty happy to get through that. My legs are definitely feeling it today. Now I just have to get to the gym to start swimming. The swim is 200m. That's 8 times up and down the pool. (not going to be easy!) I had forgotten how good it feels to exercise. Mabey I will be able to go a little faster by April. It took me about 40 minutes to get through the running and biking. Like I said, Hopefully I'll get a little faster by April!
A little late, but here is our Halloween adventure! My brother and his family came over to go trick-or-treating with us. The girls had a great time! We went down to the next townhouse neighborhood since there was no trick-or-treating going on in our complex. (and I don't really like the trunk-or-treat!) The girls started running from house to house once they figured out what they were doing! Codera stayed in the stroller most of the time. I think she was a little tired, but she got out and went to a few houses also. She's so funny! She just is fascinated with the scary creatures! She'll stand there and point to them and stare. She doesn't seem scared of them, just in awe! Happy Halloween!

birthday

Ok, so it's been awhile since I've blogged. I'm still here and here is some new stuff.
Two weeks ago was my birthday. My whole family was here to celebrate. (with the exception of my brother-in-law) We had such a great time. We've been having themed dinners at my parents house every 2 weeks for the last couple of months. This weekend we had a chinese theme. Everybody brings a dish to share. We had chopsticks and the kids loved that! After all that, the family sang "Happy Birthday" to me and Amanda. It was a very slow rendition and had a slight "chinese" accent. It was great. The kids played in the splash pad with their clothes on. The only kid not playing in the water was my Savanna. She doesn't care for the sprinkler water play. Anyway, we had a great time.

I've got a new goal now. I've taken my friend's challenge and am now training for a beginner's triathalon here in St. George. My sister-in-law, Lindsay, told me about it and asked if I wanted to do it with her. The only problem is that I have to train by myself. (Good Luck!) We'll see how far that motivation goes. Anyway, Thanks for the challenge Cindy! (She's training for a marathon right now!) Good luck to me!

FIRSTS

Savanna had her first week of swim lessons this past week. I should have done this last year! She is having so much fun! I tried to take pictures, but they didn't turn our very well. Her two cousins are in the class with her and I think they all like their teacher. (He's a boy) They all do what he tells them and they are having a blast! She loves swimming, but has never wanted to put her head in the water. I think she's getting a little more comfortable in the water now, but is still weary of putting her head in the water. She has one more week and we'll see if she wants to continue.
Savanna also had her first sleep over a couple of weeks ago. Her cousin Afton slept over at our house. It was actually a lot of fun. The girls played and of course didn't want to go to sleep when it was time. I think they finally made it to sleep after 10pm. (Savanna was closer to 10:30 and Afton had a harder time, but made it around 11pm.) I was impressed she made it through the night. It was Afton's first sleep over as well. Fun times! We'll have my sister and her family here this weekend. (She has two girls.) So, it will be another fun weekend with more cousins!

testimony

It finally came! Troy and I had to speak in church last Sunday. It actually went ok. I had to speak on testimonies. Does anybody know the trick to not bawling during a talk? I haven't figured it out yet. I feel a little bit bad for the congregation because I don't think you can really understand me when I'm crying and talking at the same time. Anyway, I was actually thankful to speak. To relay several general authorities talks about testimonies and the importance of gaining a personal testimony. I was thankful to find out that even some of our prophets gained their testimony through small whisperings of the Spirit and not by spectacular means like Joseph Smith. Although I do know that he did see our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in a vision!
I almost had Savanna talked into giving a talk as well, but she chickened out at the last minute. She comes out of primary every week asking me why they won't choose her for a talk or a scripture. So I tried to give her the chance. I guess she just wants to do it in primary. Oh, well. We'll try again some other time!

Lagoon Day!

I'm a little late in getting this posted, but here it is! We had a great time at Lagoon. We were hot and miserable and it was super crowded, but it was still fun. We started out a little rocky. I took Savanna and Codera on the merry-go-round. Erica took Codera and I took Savanna. I left Savanna for just a second to check on Codera and came back to find Savanna screaming and wanting to get off. I think she was just terrified that I left her. (I did tell her where I was going.) We made it through the ride and took a break on the little boats after that. They both enjoyed it! Savanna doesn't care for loud noises, so getting her on anything was somewhat of a chore. We took a break during the afternoon and Troy and I went on the Wicked roller coaster. Talk about taking your breath away. We have been on something similar back in Hershey Park, PA. This was a little different however as the "trains" got stuck or a button got stuck so we were in line for a little longer than normal. We were watching the tech push buttons randomly trying to get the coaster to work, but to no avail. That didn't make me nervous at all. (Whatever, I almost turned around and got out of line!) Anyway, about 10 minutes later we were on the coaster and zooming straight up and straight down and looping all over. It was great! We were going to take pictures at the pioneer place, but there was a huge line and the price has gone up considerably! (We had a large group!) Anyway, so we took pictures at the old train station instead. All in all, it was a great day! Next time, we'll go during the "off" season.

Happy 24th of July!

Savanna, Kylee and Codera watching the Ivins city parade
and waiting for candy!

Grammy and Codera

Savanna covering her ears. She doesn't like the
fire engine sirens!

Codera's 1st birthday

Happy 1st birthday Codera!
I can't believe my baby turned 1! She is just so much fun! Her birthday was July11. (I'm a little slow getting it blogged). We had a good time. Troy's mom and Tim came down for the party with Troy's nieces Erica and Kylee. My mom and dad and my sister and her family were here as well. We had a great time.
Of course Codera wasn't really sure what was going on, but had a great time pulling paper out of the bags that her presents were in. She didn't really try to grab the cake or even touch it. Well, she did try to get it, but only got a little frosting. She seemed to like looking at it more than touching. Anyway, she's trying to feed herself but makes more of a mess than anything. Aren't birthdays fun? I made the cake with the help of my mom of course. It's one thing that I love to do for my girls. One of these days, I'm going to take a class so I can get better and do it on my own. I'm so glad my mom is around to help me! Fun times!

Fun in a Box

It is such a blessing to have Savanna as Codera's older sister. She is so good at playing! She is also teaching Codera how to play. Today, we emptied a box that had stuffed animals in it and they played in it for a good 30 minutes, if not more! They went in and out, in and out, in and out for however long they played. They just had a great time! Forget the "real" toys! This is way more entertaining!

This is my Savanna playing "Princess and the Pea!" We haven't figured out where to store the blankets yet, so they're just downstairs on the couch. Savanna decided to play like there was a pea under all the "mattresses." She said she could feel the pea so I told her she was a real princess. How fun is that? She has such a great imagination! She is playing so well and including Codera in her play time! I couldn't ask for anything more!

So much has happened since my last blog. Where to start?

Savanna did have a birthday party in my parents back yard. They just put in a splash pad and it's a huge hit with the kids. They all love it except Savanna. She just likes to get her feet wet. Anyway, we had lots of kids and lots of family over and just had a great time!

Savanna "graduated" from her first year of preschool. She loved it there! The teachers were great, the school was clean, and the kids were fun! In fact, Savanna met a little girl there and they became fast friends. Apparently they were inseparable while at school. Audry would usually be waiting at the door for Savanna to get there. Did I mention this is a small world? Audry's grandmother lived in our neighborhood and was my mom's visiting teaching companion. Needless to say, Savanna and Audry got a few more play dates when Audry was visiting grandma.

graduation day!

savanna and audry

We have now moved into our new home as well! We've been here for almost 3 weeks and are starting to settle in! I don't know about you, but I hate moving. Hopefully, we'll only do it one more time in the somewhat near future. We plan on being here in our townhome for about 2 or 3 years and then we just might be able to build our home on the lot we have in Dixie Springs. We just found out that they are really close to getting bids on development finally.
Anyhow, we are so happy to have our own place again! The only thing we have left to do is put up pictures! We do have one drawback to this place. Our truck is too long for the garage. So, the garage is going to end up being a play area for the wiggle cars or storage. We mostly drive the car because it gets better gas mileage. I'm sure everybody is feeling that pinch these days!
Anyway, the girls are having a great time with having their toys out all the time. Today, Savanna and Codera were playing in the little couch like it was a roller coast, so I took them for a little ride. I didn't get a great picture of them smiling but they were having a ball! We went around the room and down the hall I don't know how many times! But, it was fun! I'll have to post some pics of the rest of the house later. We love it here and are very happy!

During all of this, my mom fell and broke her leg. Actually, she shattered both bones. She has 19 screws and 2 plates just above the ankle. She's doing pretty well now though. She did have a few scary moments when she was hospitalized with a blood clot in her lung. Thankfully, she is home and getting better. We are thankful to all who have kept her in their prayers and helped out when possible. Have I ever mentioned how awesome my mom is? I may have to blog about her one of these days! She can do anything! She's amazing! Good thing she is getting better cause I have a lot to learn from her!
Well, that's all for now. See you in the next blog!

What a Day!

So we've had an interesting day today. This morning, my sister-in-law was shopping at wal-mart with her son. Apparently the cart he was in was a little defective so when she turned the cart to go around a corner, the cart tipped over with Jaxon in it! He's ok though! So later this evening, Savanna had just finished eating her dinner and was pushing herself back from the counter (which she has done a thousand times) and the chair decided to fall backwards with her in it. She hit her head on the back of the chair when it hit the floor. I discovered a little gash in the back of her head when I checked for a goose egg. So I took her to the instacare and she is now calling herself "Staple Girl" because she has two staples in the back of her head. Well, it gets better. When we got home from the instacare, the house smelled like rotten eggs. While we were gone, a pipe broke from the dishwasher which flowed out into the "mud" room under the counter. I don't know exactly what happened, I just know it had something to do with the pipes being clogged and the dishwasher. Anyway, it was rank! So we had a neighbor over to try to find the problem and hopefully he can fix it tomorrow. And I forgot to tell Savanna "Happy Birthday" this morning before I went to work! I am soooo glad this day is over!

Happy Easter!
We had a great weekend! Natalie and her family came out from Fernley, NV with her 4 children and we had a great time! I should say Savanna had a great time. She had someone to play with for the last 4 days. She was really sad to see them go home today. I think she finally caught up on her sleep today. She played so hard while they were here. You can see that Savanna was a little exhausted during her play time as well!

I wanted to show off their Easter dresses. I did attempt to sew this year. I didn't sew them all by myself however. I got as far as cutting them out and sewing the bodices, but that's about as far as I got before I got too frustrated. My mom was kind enough to help me by sewing the rest of the dresses for me! They turned out beautiful of course! It's funny that I love to dress my girls alike and I really didn't care for being dressed them same as my sister while we were growing up. Oh well, they're not old enough to not like it. I'll keep it up until they can talk me out of it!

Hip, Hip, Hooray! Yes, we finally decided to buy a house! Actually, it's a townhouse. It's brand new and it's got lots of room. (about 1830 sq ft with a garage.) We're not giving up on our land, but we also can't live at grandma and grandpa's house forever. The townhouse is in the process of being built right now and should be done by the beginning of May. With our luck, it may be later, but at least we know it's going to be built.
We took some time last Saturday to take a little "hike". We went up to the "DIXIE" and hiked around there. We had a great time. Savanna is a great little hiker. She crawled around in the little "caves" and climbed up and down the rocks. She didn't want to leave because she was having such a great time! She took her little back pack and filled it with books and her water canteen and other things. She felt like she was very prepared for this hike! Of course, you know who carried it around most of the time! Anyway, we got some great pictures and just had a great family day!

So, you may think it doesn't snow in St. George! True, it may only last a few hours, but it does snow! Savanna wanted to go outside so badly, so I had her get her snow boots on and dressed her up warm and here she is. She had so much fun! I almost wish there was more snow. (ALMOST) She played outside by herself for about 30 minutes. I had to take pics! Codera and I just stayed inside the warm house and watched her!
Speaking of Codera, she thinks she can stand up now. She is pulling herself up to everything she comes in contact with! We got out one of Savanna's old toys. It's an activity table and it's just the right height for her to stand at and play with. It seems to be one of her favorite toys right now! We'll see how long that lasts! I'll try to get some pics of that and post them in the photo album.
Troy just got called to be the 2nd counselor in the Elders' Quorum presidency. I think we just figured out why we haven't felt good about buying any houses or townhomes right now. I don't know how long that will last, but I'm pretty sure this was the reason why buying right now wasn't right. It will be a great presidency. I know he'll have a lot of support from everyone in the ward! We'll see how long the Lord wants us to be here and hope that He will provide a way for us to stay in the ward boundaries or open a new door for us somewhere else!

Codera is now sitting up on her own. Well, almost. She still falls over, but she'll sit up for a minute. She is also so close to crawling. She's been worming her way around but is now trying to move her arms and legs together. We've finally been getting a good night sleep. Between Savanna and Codera, we were waking up every 2 hours for a week. Now, I think we're back on schedule. Codera is teething and doing well considering she's had a drippy nose for a month (and it doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon!)
Savanna is doing well with preschool. She loves it! They had a pajama day today so she got to wear her new pj's to school. They do fun things like that periodically. I can't believe how much she is learning. She loves her sunbeam class too! I play the piano for primary so she always makes it a point to tell her teacher that her mom is at the piano during sharing time. She is not shy in primary either. She loves to sing the songs and participate with singing and sharing time. She's learned "I am a Child of God" and also the first article of Faith. (I'm not a proud mom or anything!)
I took some fun pictures yesterday while we were outside playing! Please feel free to go to the photo link and see the fun! I have to explain about the pics of Codera in her crib. She was trying to take a nap, but decided to play hide and seek instead. When I went in, she was pulling the covers over her head and trying to get them off! The pictures in the photo link are the result! We were both laughing!
Still no word on housing, but we have a plan! That's all I'm saying for now! Ta-Ta!!!

Here is the new year and we are still in limbo! As some of you know, we put an offer in on a house here in Ivins. The owner countered and we accepted. Then we backed out after one day. Troy and I both had misgivings and didn't feel it was the right decision. So, we're still looking for a house, but who knows when we'll find something we can both decide on and feel good about. I'm sure there's a reason the house didn't feel right, but I couldn't tell you why. It's a little frustrating for both of us because we are so ready for our own house. Our property in Dixie Springs keeps being pushed back so who knows when that will be developed. We obviously can't rely on that being an option for housing right now. We decided against the other housing not too far from that property that was supposed to be started this month. It has also been pushed back to at least June or July. (That's to start building homes) Anyway, everything we seem to want to do lately hasn't worked out. Maybe we are supposed to stay at my parents home for a while. I wish we knew the reason. Anyway, a little frustrating, but I guess that means a little more money we can save every month we are here. (Which is definitely a good thing!)
Codera got her second tooth and I know she's working on getting more. She's chewing the heck out of her fingers and other toys! She's so close to crawling but hasn't quite got the hang of it yet. She does the caterpillar crawl. Won't be long before she figures out how to really crawl! Then watch out world!
Savanna is Savanna. She's such a chatter box. Troy has nicknamed her "Motorola". Half the time she's not really talking to anyone, just talking to talk. She's turned into quite the little girly girl! She got some "lipstick" and fingernail polish for Christmas and loves it! She also got a jewelry box and some jewelry. She always makes sure she puts her jewelry back in the box.
I have put a link to an online photo album on the blog. It is at the top right hand side. Hope you take a minute to go to the link and look at some fun pictures!