Noddle...

So... I wanted a new blog post up but don't really have much to say so, here goes random.

-we got a sack full of clothes given to us tonight. Most of the clothing was too big for Maddie but there were at least 10 to 15 different dress up outfits in the bag. The girls were thrilled!

 -Brooklyn is the most random little girl. She is extremely coordinated for her age and can often be found doing things that most 3 or 4 years old kids still can't do. So this outfit, though random, is actually quite appropriate. She has the body built for gymnastics and has the skills to be a great athlete. The cool hairdo just adds to it all...

 -If you google "random words generator" it will give you a website that can help you come up with a random word... hence the title of this post.  

 -Maddie reminds me of Hilary Duff in "A Cinderella Story" when she sneaks back in to the restaurant after the prom, trying to hide the dress from her step mom by throwing on a Levi jacket. If you've never seen the movie, then this will make no sense to you.

 -Although Brooklyn can be quite the trouble maker, she is still a pretty darn good little girl. This weekend she had a fever (for reasons unbeknown to us) and was therefor a little out of sorts. She wanted to have fun and play with everyone else but then would quickly change her mind and go back to snuggling with mom and dad.

 -I had a dream the other night that Karl finally got a job. The funny  part was that the people called his parents house and told his mom, who accepted the job for him then called me to tell me that Karl got the job and then finally I told Karl he got the job. The job was in Arizona (which is actually one of the places we know he is being considered at the moment) but they weren't going to have him start until August. So he was going to have to work at a temp agency until we could move there to start working in August.

 -Maddie loves any chance she gets to play with other kids her age. Actually she loves playing with pretty much anyone of any age. Some of her best friends are over the age of 60 or 70.

 -Maddie about gave me a heart attack today in sacrament when I was up front singing with the ward choir. I looked down to see her stand up and start to walk out of the room completely unnoticed by her father who was busy trying to keep miss Brooklyn happy. A feeling of panic rushed through my body as I tried to figure out how I could stop her without making a scene and then I realized she was just going to sit with one of her older friends in the ward who was sitting just a few rows back. Turns out her dad did notice she was leaving but realized where she was going and decided it was ok. But just for the record, we don't usually let our girls get off the bench at all during sacrament meeting but rather encourage them to play quietly in their seats.

-Although our life is full of random right now, we are all happy and for the most part healthy. We are grateful for the many blessings we have in our lives. I am still really nervous about getting a job and wish that we didn't have to let our families help us out so much right now but I know that the Lord has a great plan in store for our family and we just need to be patient while He lets things come to pass.

And a thought to think on...

"I believe that God only gives 3 answers to prayer: Yes, Not Yet, and I have something better in mind."

Author unknown

Swimming Success!

One of the advantages of living with my in-laws right now is that we have access to a swimming pool all year round. Today was the first day since we've been living here that we actually decided to take advantage of this. Actually, it was the first time we took Brooklyn swimming, ever!

I don't know why either.

My girls love playing in the water.

And like I said, we can go any time we want for free.

So why haven't we been going?

Anyway, there is one small problem. Madison is absolutely terrified of getting water in her ears. I know the root of this problem comes from the fact that she has had tubes in her ears since she was 9 months old and the last time we checked, they were still securely tucked in her ears. Since you are not supposed to get water in your ears with tubes, we have always been very careful to avoid doing so. The tubes are great in one way because it means she doesn't get ear infections like she used to but the fear of getting water in her ears has made washing her hair or learning to swim a real challenge.

But today,

We made progress!

Maddie was finally brave enough to "float" on her back while wearing a life jacket. Once she realized that wasn't too bad (her ears never touched the water) we decided to go a step farther.

So we took of the jacket

And laid her back in the water.

After many failed attempts we finally got her to keep her ears under the water for 3 seconds.

I know that's not long, but it's progress!

So tonight we got to go out for ice cream!!!

And just because I love this picture, this is how we found Maddie sleeping when we went in to bed the other night...

She sure loves her Auntie Linda doll (properly named since Auntie Linda happened to assist santa in finding this one- although Maddie doesn't know that) and she sleeps with her every night.

Sleigh ride with the elk

Yesterday we loaded up the girls and drove up the canyon with Lacey, Steve and Ivy to a ranch where they give sleigh rides to see the hundreds of elk that gather in the area. It was so beautiful up there at the top of the canyon. The sun was shining and the snow was glistening. The girls had a wonderful time playing in the snow and really enjoyed being outside. As a result, you get a lot of pictures.

...And this is just to show you, we really do attempt to get family pictures sometimes. We just rarely have a successful one.

P.S. We might have come up with a name for our baby... but I need to throw it around for a few weeks and see how I feel about it then (since I sometimes grow tired of a name within a few days)

What color is in our future?

We had our Doctors appointment this morning and the verdict is in...

My friend Vickie helped me make cupcakes to tell our family what we were having while we were at our appointment. As soon as the ultrasound tec let us know what gender we were having we sent Vickie a message and she was able to turn the batter either blue or pink then throw them in the oven.

When made it home just in time for lunch where the girls and our family were waiting to hear the news. We made them wait until lunch was over before we pulled out the cupcakes. 

The little girl's opened theirs first.

They understood that pink meant girl and blue meant boy.

This was Maddie's reaction.

 So what color was it? Pink of course!

 Is it what I expected? Well although I always thought our third was going to be a boy, I think deep down I knew it was going to be a girl. It's what we do.

The first comment Karl made on our way home though was, "I think it's great having another girl, until it's time to pay for all their weddings."

The only downside. I was kind of hoping we would have a boy because we are completely out of girls names... If you recall it wasn't until we were in the delivery room that Brooklyn actually had a name.

So once again, we are open to suggestions.

Girl Power

Anyone who knows Karl's and my family at all know that little girls seem to be easy to find while little boys are... well... non existent. Madison was born first, followed by her cousin Ivy then came Brooklyn. Karl's sister Lacey and I are both once again pregnant, due within a month of each other. Steve and Lacey just found out they are going to be having another little girl this May.

Although my family too seems to be dominated by girls, we seem to follow a girl-girl-boy-girl pattern. My parents had 2 girls, a boy then a girl and my dad's family was 2 girls, a boy then a girl, and my dad's sister also followed the 2 girls, a boy then a girl pattern.

We find out what we are having next Wednesday which means the time has come to hear what everyone thinks.

Do you think we will continue with Karl's family trend and be having another girl or do you think our family will finally be getting a little boy?

I know most of my family don't usually leave comments on my blog but I would really love it if you would leave me a little message this time letting me know what you think.

Playing with my new camera

So I've been trying to play around with my new camera to see what settings work best in low light situations

(any input from those of you with SLR's would be great!)

My little stinkers, were once again being little stinkers but I caught a few fun pictures.

Check out that hairdo- talk about out of control

I had even done her hair today

 Little Miss Attitude

 The girl with the messy face...

Silly Billy

We've always known our girls were silly but I have to admit that their silly's still make me laugh.

(If you can't tell, this is a filing cabinet)

Oh how I love my girls.

Little black dress

The Sunday after Christmas the girl's and my brother's church close looked so good together we had to take some pictures. The hats are Robbie's but they sure looked cute on the girls.

Christmas past...

...Finally morning time came and it was time for us to go see what Santa had left for us that night. The girls were delighted to find what he had brought for them this year.

 Maddie especially loved her big ginormous doll! I told you this thing was impressive.

 Brooklyn loved all her noise making toys. The rest of us... are still undecided.

 Brooklyn and Maddie got this awesome dollhouse from my parents and my sister Katie. My sisters and I had a ginormous dollhouse that my dad had built for us when we were younger and have always loved it. We decided it was time for our girls to have their own. They too love theirs!

 Maddie also thought it was fun to play with her new barbies aunt Michelle gave her in her new dollhouse even though they didn't really fit. Silly girl.

 Our little minions. For those of you that don't know, these glasses come from the movie Despicable Me.

They also got 2 new tents for Christmas. One from my brother Robbie and one from my brother Andrew. They didn't know the other had bought one but the girls thought it was pretty cool that they had 2 tents that could connect together.

The girls loved all their new presents and their parents are pretty excited about them too. We only kept a few toys out when we moved in with Karl's parents so the girls are thrilled to have some new toys to play with.

Thanks again to everyone for helping to make our Christmas this year so wonderful. We love you all.