Snow Day!

We had our first big snow day yesterday and I am loving it! I didn't realize how much I missed the snow. We didn't get a whole lot of snow in Ohio, and I am happy to be living in a place that gets SNOW! To make yesterday even better... Eric's office was closed so he got to stay home with us. I wish I could say it was a relaxing and fun day, but I had ALOT of cleaning to do. It was nice he was there to help with the girls.

This looks like a lot more snow that we actually got because Eric had just finished shoveling. I think we got between 10-13 inches of lovely, white, powdery, fluffy, yummy snow!

This is the before pic of Eric getting ready to throw Ab's in the snow...

And here she is pretty close to being buried. She didn't like it, just as I suspected.

Sweet little Ela chillin' indoors with mom. She has bronchiolitis and sounds like she has been smoking for 50 years. Poor thing.

Ab's enjoying her "warm" cocoa after a fun afternoon in the snow.

Ela's new obsession... I can't keep her off my kitchen table! She is our little monkey.

LET IT SNOW! LET IT SNOW! LET IT SNOW!

Photography Website/Blog

Ok, so I have been working on this for a while and I am excited to announce that I have finally finished my photography websites! I did my first session this weekend and it was so much fun! Check out my blog here and my website here!

Happy Halloween!

My mom made these AMAZING costumes for my girls! THANKS MOM - I LOVE YA! They are the cutest little witches I have ever seen, and they loved wearing the costumes, which is a major plus! They did not however love wearing the hats. They ended up looking more like princesses instead of witches without the hats, oh well!

This was the ONLY shot I got of Ela with her hat on that wasn't extremely blurry. The little stinker wouldn't leave it on for 5 seconds.

Here's Abbey checking out the creepy spider that hangs down from her hat - haha!

This year was alot of fun because Abbey actually understood what was going on. We took the girls to the mall in town to trick-or-treat since it is so cold outside. They thought it was great and it was nice to be warm and cozy inside. Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

BFF's

I've been wanting to post this for a few months now, but I am just getting around to it - story of my life! This is one of Abbey's very best friends that lived next door to us in Ohio. I miss being able to walk outside and let Abbey and Baylor play while I chatted with Stacey. They were so cute together (sometimes) the others times they fought and cried over toys, but it was so much fun! These are some of my favorite pictures of them enjoying popsicles on a warm summer day.

We miss you Baylor! We miss all of our other friends too - I promise! I just wanted to post these cute pictures!

Cute Girls and Good Food

I have some post-worthy recipes that I wanted to share. It's not that often I get really excited about recipes, but these ones are so yummy!!! First, pictures of my cute girls eating corn - YUM! I love the Farmer's Markets here, nothing beats fresh fruits and veggies!

Let's start with dessert shall we...

Layered Peach Dessert

found here

(Her picture is ALOT prettier than mine, but I'm okay with that!)

Crust:

1 pkg. Vanilla wafers, finely crushed

Filling:

1 8 oz pkg. cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup butter, softened

10 fresh peaches, sliced

Topping:

1 pt. whipping cream

½ cup sugar

½ tsp vanilla

Place half of the crumbs in a 9x13 pan. Whip cream cheese, sugar, and butter together until smooth. Drop by spoonfuls over the crumbs. Spread carefully using a spoon dipped in hot water. Keep dipping the spoon in the water so the mixture doesn't stick to it. The crumbs will slide around, but that is okay. It doesn't need to be perfectly smooth. Arrange the sliced peaches over the top. Whip the cream and add sugar and vanilla. Spread over the peaches. Sprinkle last half of crumbs over top. Cover and chill 8 hours, or over night.

This is my second time making this delicious dessert and I changed a few things... I use Dream Whip for the whipped topping and I do not add anything extra to that and I add more fruit than the recipe calls for. I also did half with raspberries and half with peaches - YUMMY! Oh yeah, and I only make half so I don't eat the whole pan :)

Next...

Homestyle Ribs

I am not a rib person so I am not a good judge when it comes to how good ribs are, but according to Eric - these are AWESOME! He swears he will never go somewhere else for ribs again! I got the original recipe here, but I changed it a little so I will give you mine...

Rack of pork ribs (baby back are the best!)

1 lg. bottle of catsup

1 1/2 c. brown sugar

3 T. Worcestershire sauce

3 T. White Vinegar

liquid smoke to taste (original recipes called for 3-5 drops - I use almost 1/8 cup)

Combine catsup, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, and liquid smoke - mix well. Set aside. Brown the outsides of the meat on all sides and salt and pepper to your liking. You can add garlic or other seasonings you like here to spice things up. :) Place the meat in a covered cooking pan (a 9x13 covered with foil works fine), pour the sauce over the meat and cover well. Bake at 375 for 2 hours then reduce heat to 300 for another 1-2 hours -- more time, more tender. Serve warm. Ladle sauce over the served meat.

Life in Wisconsin

Sorry, still no pictures. Eric moved our stuff in before we got here and before I could take any pictures of the house (I am not complaining!!!) and I don't really want to show what it looks like at the moment - it isn't very pretty!

Unpacking is going about as well as planned with two little munchkins helping me. I was thinking I would be able to get alot of stuff done at night after the kiddos where asleep, but they aren't sleeping well. I think maybe we threw too many changes at them. First of all we moved here, to Wisconsin, where everything is unfamiliar, we have them in the same room for the first time, we put Abbey in a toddler bed instead of her crib, and Ela in a crib instead of a pack-n-play. I figured we would go through one BIG change instead of a bunch of little ones. I think I am regretting it a little bit, but I hate to change things back now. I'm not sure why I don't want to change it back, it's not like we've come so far or anything...I feel like it gets worse every night. Oh, and Ela has been sick. The nasty, green snot running all over the place, slim your arm/neck/cheek/hair/leg/mouth/(insert other body part here) kind of sick, so that isn't helping either.

Other than that, things are going okay. I have been back and forth to Walmart and Target about 500 times getting little odds and ends and that is about all I have seen of the area. The only people I have met are our duplex partners. They are actually the owners and are an older couple - very nice people. I am not sure if there are any little kids in the neighborhood because I haven't ventured out of the house to find out, I have been somewhat of a hermit since we've been here. Eric started this week as the solo dentist in the office and he is extremely stressed out. I keep telling him that he is awesome and he'll do great, but I don't think he believes me. I know he'll be an awesome dentist!

So thats life for us so far in Wisconsin. It's been an exciting and overwhelming transition. I miss my family and friends like crazy and wish I could move all of your here with me. I hope to post pictures of fun things we did in Utah and also of our new place here so stay posted and I might just post something exciting...

New Place

I know I am still behind on posting things that we have been up to, but I wanted to share this good bit of news. Eric found a new place for us to live in Wisconsin! When I say a "new" place, I mean brand spankin' new! The owners are still finishing up things as I type. How great is that? I don't have to clean up someone else's nasty, stinky, disgusting mess!!! You have no idea how happy that makes me! The only drawback is that it is a duplex. I really had my heart set on a house, but there is nothing available right now and you can't beat brand new! I am off to Wisconsin on Tuesday and I am really excited, anxious and sad all at the same time. Our trip to Utah has been so much fun and it will be hard to leave. I wish I had pctures to post of the new place, but you'll just have to wait!

Some of the best times...

I really hate to do this post because I feel like it is somehow going to make leaving Ohio more real. I still feel like I am on vacation and I will be coming back to Ohio when it's over. I know that's not going to happened, and it makes me really sad! I made so many good friends and some really, really great friends! I wish I had more pictures to share, but I am such a loser and missed out on so many picture opportunities!

Some of the best friends a girl could ever ask for: Margo, Tonya and Angie

This was last big GNO and it was a blast! I am going to miss you guys so much! I don't think I am ever going to have this many good friends again at the same time. Thanks for all the fun times and great memories!

R&R

Eric and I were able to take a little anniversary/graduation vacation and it was fantastic!! I was really worried and anxious to leave our girls for a whole week, but it ended up being a really good thing for all of us. Thank you so much to our family for helping with the girls so we could do this - we love you very much!

We went to one of my favorite vacation spots of all time... SAN DIEGO! I love the place! I have been many, many times and I just can't get enough. I needed this vacation and it was great to kick back and relax! The first day there we went down to the beach and went body boarding. This is one of our favorite things to do. The water was freezing and it wasn't very warm outside, but I toughed it out. The rest of the days we were there were kinda cold and misty so we never got back in the water, but we walked along the beaches almost everyday - so relaxing! We went to Seaport Village one night and got some yummy Ben & Jerry's ice cream (yum!) We tried to go to Balboa Park one day, we got all way there, got out of the car and up the the shuttle station, then decided not to go because it was cold. I know, lame huh? I guess we will go next time. Here are a few more highlights...

This is La Jolla. We have never come here before and it was really cool. There were some neat tide pools with lots of yucky crabs and weird buggy things crawling all over.

We went to a Padres game one night. For those of you who know Eric, you know he loves baseball so we definately couldn't pass up a MLB game! We had a great time and Petco Park is really nice! This is a picture of the "beachers." You can see the sand box and the bottom of the bleachers for the kids to play in - genius!

This is Eric's dream office! Just kidding. This is an old dental office in Old Town. This is always a highlight for me when we go to San Diego, I love walking around all the little shops even though everything is mostly junk. The best part is the fresh tortillas you can buy on the street. My favorite - cinnamon tortillas with loads of melted butter (I am drooling!)

We spent four nights in San Diego then we moved on Las Vegas for three nights. I love Vegas for one reason - buffets! All the other stuff is kinda like - been there, seen that. Eric and I were surprised at how dirty it was. I mean, I know it's Sin City, but we couldn't even look down at the sidewalk for 2 seconds because there were those nasty handouts all over the place! I was also surprised at how many little kids were there. Honestly, what is there to do in Vegas with little kids that you couldn't do somewhere else? Nothing really, right? Personally, I don't want my little girls around all that stuff, and the smokey casinos are yucky and stinky. We would have loved to go see a show, but we didn't really think it was worth the money so we just ate at a few buffets instead (I'm drooling again!) It was a great relaxing vacation and I want to go back - now!

Congrats Babe!

I am WAY behind on posting, so I thought I would do a little catching up (this is for you Melissa:)

Eric graduated from dental school on June 8th and we could not be happier! It is such a relief to be done and moving on to the next step in life. I am so proud of you babe! I can't believe how fast 4 years of school went by, although Eric would probably not agree with that statement. It was such a hard, wonderful, stressful, demanding, fun time in our lives!

Congrats! I love ya!

The actual graduation ceremony was not very fun. My girls were little stinkers and the ushers were very rude with us. It was not a kid friendly graduation, there was no where to go with them, and there were tons of kids out in the foyer! I left my girls screaming and crying with my parents so I could run in and snap some shots when Eric walked across the stage, that was about all I saw of graduation. Oh well, that was the most important part anyway.

Here are some of the guys Eric graduated with. Don't they look so manly and doctorly in lavender?

We were able to get together with two of our best friends that went to school with Eric and have a little graduation bash. It was so nice to spend one last night with some great friends! Thanks Tonya and Angie for all the work you did for the party, it was so fun!!!

There has been a lot of stress in our lives these last few months. Let's recap shall we... We were offered a job in Utah with a family friend and we were so excited to be coming back to live near family, but the more we got into it, the more we realized that it wasn't really what we wanted (as far as the job went). I was really let down and depressed that we weren't moving to Utah. Eric started looking at other options and we decided to go with a corporate dental group. They offered us a job in Wisconsin and Eric flew there for an interview. He loved the area and was excited about the job, but there were a few hang ups... Without going into too much detail (because it's really long and hairy) Eric took the wrong exam to get into Wisconsin and we wouldn't be able to get licensed until he took some additional tests which he could only schedule on certain dates. There is a really long story that goes along with the whole additional testing too, but I will spare you. So, the company Eric hired on with was going to put us in Iowa until we could get licensed in Wisconsin. We weren't sure how long we were going to be in Iowa and I wasn't sure if I was going to move to Iowa with Eric or stay with my family in Utah for a while. We just didn't want to uproot our girls over and over because the move has been really hard on them. Anyway... about 3 weeks ago we found out that Wisconsin changed their licensing laws and they were going to accept the WREB (the test Eric took) and we would be able to get licensed there! YAY!!! I have been stressing and worrying about what we were going to do and everything just fell into place! Eric will be driving out next week and looking for a house. Once he finds something, I will fly out with the girls. Everyone cross your fingers he finds something fast!!

Updates...kinda

I haven't posted in a while because things have been a little crazy. I wish I could say that we finally had a place to live, heck I'd be happy if I could tell you we finally knew what state we were moving to!! We don't even know that yet and if I think about it too much I start to panic because we are moving in three weeks! Eric is actually flying to Wisconsin on Wednesday to look at a practice and check out the area, so we are looking forward to that. The only problem is that we are not even sure if he can get licensed in Wisconsin and he hasn't been able to get a hold of the lady that could give him that info, so I am trying not to get my hopes up about it! (It's a long and boring story so I won't go into it...) I am so thankful that my mom decided to fly out early and help me out. I think she sensed my panic and she is coming to my rescue! I love ya mom!!! I am super excited for her to come and I know Abbey and Ela are going to love it! Anyway, here are a few recent pictures of us...

Ela is 9 months old now and is EXTREMELY active!!! She is already standing up by herself without holding on to anything and has even started taking steps. She is growing up WAY to fast and I need things to slow down a bit!

Abbey is 2 and boy is she a stinker sometimes! She really knows how to push mom and dad's buttons so it's a good thing she is so darn cute. Her favorite thing to do right now is sing. EVERYTHING is a song, she woke up the other morning singing about how there wasn't any poop in her diaper. She has the sweetest little voice, I love to hear her sing!

Stress

So life lately has been extremely stressful! First of all, we thought we were going back to Utah to live and practice and things were looking great, but that all fell apart a few weeks ago. There were alot of reasons it didn't work out and Eric and I feel alot better after we made that decision. Now, we just have to find him a job and then look for a house (and a car!) We have lots and lots of work ahead of us for the next few months. Eric takes his final boards this weekend and then he can actually focus on finding a practice. I am busy de-junking and packing all of our crap. Our house is a complete disaster and I need it to stop raining everyday so I can get my wild children out of the house. On a much happier note, here are a few things we have been up to...

Abbey loves to give hugs ans kisses. She is such a sweet little girl.
Easter was alot of fun this year. We had an awesome dinner with a few great friends and then we did a little egg hunt in the backyard. Abbey picked up 2 eggs and started opening them. I was dragging her all over trying to get her to pick up more eggs.

Eric and I finally went to try the Thurman burger. There is a little bar/restaurant here in Columbus that is famous for their burgers. There is one bigger than this, but we weren't that daring.
Ela pulls herself up to EVERYTHING!!! She even finds ways to pull herself up in the middle of the room and stand there for a few seconds. I don't think I am ready for another early walker! She loves to terrorize Abbey when she is eating.
Abbey has to try everything that Ela is doing. She loves being the big sister but sometimes gets a little jealous of what Ela gets to do until she trys it out and realizes it isn't that great for a toddler!

Abigail - 2 Years Old

Abbey is 2 years old and I can't believe how fast time goes!!! She has been such a joy in our lives and I love her so much! I tried to get some pictures of her at a little park near our house, but it was a little chilly outside and she was being a total stinker! Some of them turned out ok... I just love her in orange!

What Abbey is up to at 2 years...

She loves loves loves stuffed animals, books and cars (in no particular order). She is always lining her animals up along the edge of our couch and then she will climb around in front of them and sit down and talk to them/read to them. She finds random things around the house and makes roads for her cars (like ribbon, strips of paper, etc...) When I tell her do something and she doesn't really want to do it she will say "what?" in sort of a disgusted voice. I have to try not to laugh because it is really cute. She makes everything into a song and dance. We went to Kirtland last week to see a really neat sculpture display of Christ and she was singing "scupltures, scupltures, sculptures..." and raising her arms up and sort of skipping the whole way into the visitor's center (dad taught her how to dance and it is not pretty, but it's cute coming from her.) She loves to count, but it's rarely ever right. Most of the time it's 1..2..3...6...7... She almost always skips 4 and 5 and ends at 7. Sometimes she gets it right all the way to 10. She knows most of her colors most of the time. She talks in complete sentences and surprises us daily with what she understands and says. She says(repeats) prayers. Abbey loves giving hugs and kisses to us and her friends. She is such a good little girl and she has the sweetest personality!

Ela - 6 months

Ela is 6 months old - already! It's crazy how fast time goes! Okay, so one of the main reasons I bought myself a DSLR camera was because I HATE taking my girls to get their pictures taken! Last time I took them Abbey was the biggest stinker and if Eric hadn't have been there I might have lost it. Anyway, I thought if I bought a good camera then I could just take pictures myself and skip the whole studio thing all together. I wanted to get some 6 month pictures of Ela and this is how a few of them turned out....I really like them!

What Ela is up to at 6 months...

She is scooting/army crawling like a crazy girl. In fact, she is moving better than Abbey ever did on the ground. Abbey never crawled, so this will be a new experience for us. She never wants to play with her toys, she goes for everything off limits - cords, cameras, shoes, really anything but her toys. We have to be careful if we are holding her because she has a monster death grip - she likes to grab the muscle in my neck and squeeze as hard as she can - OUCH! She loves to watch Abbey and those two get into giggle fits on a daily basis (I love it!) We started her on veggies last week, and she doesn't care for them much. She is a very hard girl to feed. Abbey had no problems learning to eat from a spoon, she was a pro from the start. Ela has been a bit of a challenge to feed. She is not sleeping through the night yet, but I plan on cutting out the night feeding when she is over her ear infection and she is eating rice and veggies a little bit better (hopefully this all happens real soon!) She doesn't like to be held unless it is time for naps/bed. She pretty much entertains herself all day and is very easy-going. Ela is such a sweet little girl and I love her so much! I am so blessed to have her in my life!

Smarty Pants

Abbey never ceases to surprise me with how smart she is getting. She is growing and learning things way to fast and I feel like it all is passing too quickly! This morning her and Eric were in the basement and I could hear Eric trying to coax her to come back upstairs. I went down to see if I could help. Abbey had her baby doll stroller, her book bag and one of her stuffed animals and was trying to drag them all up the stairs. I told her she needed to just pick one and leave the others downstairs. She of course didn't like this and kept trying to take them all. Eric and I kept asking her to just pick one. She was going back and forth between the stroller and the stuffed animal. After about a minute she grabbed the stuffed animal and put in the stroller looking pretty satisfied with herself and headed up the stairs. Eric and I just laughed and realized that we had to bring both of them upstairs - how does she figure these things out?

COSI

Eric and I took the girls to COSI (the science museum, not the restaurant) on Monday and it was alot of fun. We have taken Abbey there quite a few times, but she has always been too little to really do much. She still is too little for alot of the exhibits, but she really enjoyed the ocean exhibit and of course the play area. I finally got a few pictures of me with my girls since Eric was there to snap some. It's rare that I post pictures of myself on my blog - my family is just so much cuter than I am!