Our Pilgrim and Wheels on the Bus!

Thanksgiving in preschool is so cool! The kids got to pretend to be pilgrims and have their own Thanksgiving Feast. I just love River as a pilgrim! I asked her what her favorite part of the feast was and she said, "The Hamburgers." (they were really turkey sandwiches on a roll...maybe we've been going to McDonald's too much.)Speaking of McDonald's, Sariah can say it perfectly every time we drive by. She can also say all of our neighbors first and last names, but not River's name. What?! She'll look out the window and say, "Danny Johnson", "Nathan" "Leah", but we can't get her to say "River". Maybe it's all the r's? She has been using more sentences too. Such as;
"Where daddy go, mom?"
"Again, mom!"
"I drink too. I drink too."
"I want treat too."
"Clown scary." (Cameron has an old jack in the box she is terrified/in love with. She loves to watch it pop out, but doesn't want to be too close when it does.)
"No, mine!"


Sariah says "Flag big!"
I say, "Yes. Is that a big flag?"
Sariah says, "No. Little, little."
I say "Oh, a little flag."
Sariah says, "No! Big flag. Big!"

I love it when kids start to talk. It's so amazing how fast they learn. River took this picture of Sariah. Is it just me, or do her eyes look green in this picture?

This is just a picture of the girls playing in the snow. It was falling so beautifully and slow...

Another of Sariah's favorite things is a Sesame Street Monsters on the Bus book. River loved this book too, in fact I have video of River singing the same song when she was Sariah's age.

River has been saying some funny things lately too.

Me: Thanks for waiting so patiently. River: That's my pleasure!

Me: How was nursery? River: Nursery is fun, but not as fun as candy.

Cam: I'm going to trap you! River: Dad, you are the best entrapper!

River: Mom, look at this Thanksgiving turkey I drew. It's not going to get eaten. It's going to join the circus and run on top of a big ball.

Halloween and Running

Happy Halloween!!!

River wanted to be a witch this year and she wouldn't hear of anything else. She even had the witch cackle down. Eee hee hee hee hee! I painted her fingernails black but she scrapped it all off because she "wanted to be a nice witch, not a mean witch!" River with all her friends at the preschool parade. They marched around and sang us Halloween songs. It was adorable if I do say so myself. For some reason all of River's friends are boys. Lincoln is the Mario, Morgan is the Wolverine, and Canyon was the Red Ninja.This is Sariah and River at the ward trunk-or-treat. Sariah looked so cute in the ballerina costume in the first picture, but it was too cold to wear on Halloween. It was raining so we decided a warm, snugly, tiger costume would be better for the occasion. Sariah is really starting to talk now and whenever we saw a monster or a ghost she would point at them and say "Scarwey, scarwey".

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The Halloween Half Marathon, Provo Utah

I ran the Halloween Half with my friend Tylee and her sister Shayna. We had to get up at 5:00 in the morning to drive down to Provo for the race. When we arrived there was a huge line of people(the race had over 2500 runners) waiting to get on the buses that would take us to the start. We stood in line in the freezing cold for almost 2 hours, but it was worth it! Once the race started we ran past the tunnels and Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon. It was beautiful! We dressed up in Gothic garb because we thought it would be easiest to run in. I mean, who doesn't have black running clothes? There were other runners in full costumes including a pink mad-hatter, Rainbow Bright, a bunny, Princess Leah, and a lot of superheros. I kind of wish I ran with a cape. That would be sweet. Cameron and the girls drove down to watch us cross the finish line. I was so happy they came to support me. This last picture is funny because Sariah is kicking River with her boot. River's face kills me. Poor girl!

River's House and Latest Project

Our wonderful neighbor kids made this cardboard-box house for River and Sariah to play in. They are out on the porch playing in it non-stop. They absolutely love it, can't get enough of it, want to eat in it and sleep in it. Complete with a little door and window.
Ain't it cute?

Their faces say it all!!!

Latest Project:

Turning this yucky old chair Into this colorful number.

Re-upholstering is harder than I thought it would be, but it turned out okay, eh?

The First Day of Preschool

Yes, my daughter is old enough to go to preschool! What is going on???

School started in September and River is absolutely loving it. She is Cameron's daughter....not shy one bit. The first day of school River ran into her class room ahead of me and immediately sat down in a chair with big excited eyes, and practically bOuNcInG in her seat. She barely even batted an eye when I said goodbye, while other kids where hanging on their parent's legs in tears. I felt a little sad she was so happy....that sounded weird...but you moms know what I mean.... it is my first child going to school! It was bittersweet for me, pure excitement for her.

Here she is just before leaving the house and showing off her backpack. I'm just glad I remembered to grab the camera.

And because I was taking pictures of her, River took these pictures of Cam. Not related to preschool, sure, but I thought they where funny.

Anyway, when I went to pick up River after her first day, the kids all came out with cowboy hats on and riding stick horses. It was so cute, River made lots of friends and couldn't wait to go back. I wish I had had my camera for the stick horse part. Dang.

Thunderbirds Ho!

We went down to Cedar City this weekend to watch Blake play his first homegame of the year. SUU won! Blake played really great, and we found out after the game that he had the most tackles! The only sad part that was Cameron had drill that weekend and couldn't come with us. Oh, and the girls ate more candy and watched more cartoons on the long drive than they have in a whole month. Really though, what else can you do on a 5 hour drive?
The whole gang. River was being a silly-billy and not smiling or holding still. See my sublte restraining hand on her hip? Yeah, we are lucky she was in the picture at all! Riah and Grammy cuddling up together....


River and Papa. So cute!

Blake is number 34. Or did you guess that already? #1 Fan. For reals.

AFTER THE GAME:

We ran down to the field to congratulate Blake. River had to try on his gloves and helmet. As soon as she put the helmet on she started zigging and zagging around the field until she tipped over head first, giggling. The helmet was WAY to heavy for her, but she thought it was the best. Look at those handsome faces!

Glitter and Kites and Papa Brent's Tights

River and Sariah miss Cameron everyday when he is at work. Today we decied to make him cards and stick them in his car for a nice surprise when he got off work. River wanted hers to say, "We all miss you Daddy!" And Sariah wanted hers to say "Dada, dada, dada." But I embellished a bit and wrote "I love you, Dada!" instead. On the inside of her card, River drew her and Dad flying kites. Sariah's card had tons of glitter which she smeared everywhere with a paint brush. Sariah had fun for sure. River even wrote her own name at the bottom. My favorite part is the 'e' for some reason. Looks like it's doing a front flip over the 'r'. Hiii Yah! Karate chop!When the cards were done, the glitter was too fun, so River made a picture of Papa Brent. According to her, it's a picture of when Papa Brent was a silly baby and he had one red shoe and one blue shoe. But he was just a baby, so he didn't know. I was going to mail this picture to him, but that red hair above the head is a pile of glitter at least an inch high.

Sariah also continued to glitter everything in site. She's starting to love to draw and paint. The other day she pointed at scribbles she had drawn and signed the word for flower. I said, "is that a flower?" and she nodded, "yes!". So cute. Mind you, the picture didn't actually look like a flower, but that is what she thought she drew.

Pickles and Grandma's Fried Chicken

Cameron went on a business trip to Sacramento, California. He always forgets the camera. His hotel was directly across from the capital building. He didn't see Arnold Swartzenager....he did learn that it's illegal to pick the oranges from the trees surrounding the capital building.





Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I took the girls to Roosevelt for a nice long visit. We CANNED HOMEMADE PICKLES WITH GRANDMA HICKEN. I am addicted to her pickles. Now I have seven of my own pretty green bottles of them in my pantry. :)We DINED UPON GRANDMA GILES FRIED CHICKEN AND GRAVY. There is nothing more sinfuly delicious than Grandma's fried chicken and gravy. Just look at River lickin' her lips in anticipation.And we HAD A TEA PARTY WITH OUR FRIENDS. Complete with plastic pizza. All in all, the week was nice and Cameron was home before we knew it!

Things Are Going Swimmingly

River had her VERY first swimming lessons EVER. She loved them. She did great. She will do everything for her teachers that she won't do for me! She jumped off of the side, dunked her head under the water, floated on her back, etc etc etc...

Sariah loved swimming too....I wish I had a picture of her in her swimsuit. We stayed after swimming lessons and swam for a couple of hours everyday. (goodbye sickly white legs!) It was all I could do to keep Sariah from running pell-mell into the water. She fell in over her head about four times before she finally decided it was a good idea to hold my hand.

River had three teacher for her class, which made it really fun. We already can't wait until next year!