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!