Bella - Before and After

Today we took Bella for a MUCH needed trip to the groomer. She was looking very shabby (not to mention her nails were sharp, and she really needed a bath). So, I thought you all might enjoy a before and after picture of my dog. She looks MUCH better now, but she really didn't feel like posing for the camera.

Here is Before:

and after a much needed trip to the groomer...here's what she looks like now:

Project 365

Okay, so a whole bunch of people that I know (and a ton that I don't know too) are doing this thing called Project 365. You take a picture everyday for a year and scrapbook it...actually the thing that started it was a kit by Becky Higgins where you put a picture in a sheet protector and then add journaling...well, those kits sold out FAST (and no, I was not planning on getting one) so I am doing a scrapbook page probably once a week.

Well, I didn't decide to start this until January 13th so I have a few pictures from the beginning of January and then it skips to the 13th. Since all the stuff I didn't need in my house is packed up and in storage at my mom and sister's houses while I sell mine I don't have most of my scrapbook stuff. I wanted to scrapbook so I decided to play around with them on my computer. I will be scrapbooking these with my sister with actual scrapbook products...but in the meantime...I came up with this layout for my first couple of pictures. (You may notice that I used the same background paper that is the backgroud to my blog right now...hee, hee, hee)

Just Because

Today Paul sent me flower...just because. He is such a sweetheart, and I love him so much.

Going to the Zoo

Since I was up at my parent's house to go to the Draper Temple open house, and Wendy had attempted to go to the zoo on friday ( Click Here for that story), and that didn't work out so we decided it looked like a pretty nice day and would attempt to go yesterday. That almost didn't work out ( Click Here for more on that story). Anyway, it was still pretty cold but it got us out and doing something fun. Here are some of our fun moments from the zoo yesterday:

Gabby was reading the sign in front of the elephant exhibit. Here is what the sign says according to Gabby (age 3): "The elephants need quiet time, so you have to leave them alone so they can have their quiet time"
Next we went over to the penguins and they were right next to the fence.
The giraffes were inside the building (Since it was too cold outside), here's what Kaylee thought of the giraffe building:
On the next one look at Gabby:
I haven't been to the zoo since they had opened the new conservation carousel. The kids were really excited to ride on it. For some reason the animals don't have straps to hold the kids in place and Gabby almost fell off of her tiger. Wendy was holding onto Roman and couldn't quite reach Gabby but luckily a really nice guy came to our rescue and helped Gabby back up onto the tiger.
After a long day of waking up early and going all day Gabby was exhausted. I tried to wake her back up but she just couldn't get her eyes to open.

Draper Temple Open House

This weekend we stayed at my parent's house since the girls didn't have school on Monday. So, my parents had tickets to the Draper Temple Open House on Monday morning. We woke up way to early, Gabby woke up before my alarm clock even went off. We drove out to Draper and watched a short film about the draper area, and temple at a church building before they shuttled us up to the temple on a tour bus. We walked through the amazing new temple. It was so beautiful. They told us that the outside stone was imported from China, the inside stones were imported from France, and all the wood was imported from South Africa. Local artists painted the amazing murals. Overall, it was an amazingly beautiful temple. I am so grateful I had to opportunity to take my girls through to see it. As we left we went across the street from the temple to another church building for refreshments, which was one of Kaylee's absolute favorite parts. Then we took the tour bus back to our cars and headed back to my parent's house.

New Years Interviews

Today I was reading a blog that the mom interviews her kids at the beginning of each year. She shared the "New Years" questions that she asks her kids and I thought it would be fun to see what my kids would say, and how they change every year as they get older. So, here's the questions, and answers, that I received.

Gabby (Age 3)

Favorites:

• Cereal - Lucky Charms
• Vegetable - Apple (She says it is NOT a fruit anymore)
• Drink - Chocolate Milk
• Toy - Little People
• TV Show - Curious George
• Game - The Mouse One (I don't know what game that is. I think it's one of her Leapster games.)
• Book - Curious George
• Restaurant - The Pizza Factory
• Holiday - Christmas
• Animal - Horse

If you could change your name, what would you choose? Silly Monkey

What do you love about your sister? That she loves books

Where would you like to go on vacation this year? Camping

What are some of your wishes for this year? I wish on shooting stars

Kaylee (Age 6)

Favorites:

• Cereal - Cookie Crisp
• Vegetable - Carrots (I really thought she would say Spinach, she loves it!)
• Drink - Apple Juice "Because it's healthy and I want to be healthy"
• Toy - Cinderella Barbie
• TV Show - The Brady Bunch
• Game - Animal Genius
• Book - Kailey (An American Girls Book)
• Restaurant - Wendy's
• Holiday - Christmas
• Animal - Horse

If you could change your name, what would you choose? Cinderella

What do you love about your sister? That she plays with me a lot

Where would you like to go on vacation this year? Hawaii

What are some of your wishes for this year? To get a pretend Computer, a teddy bear, and a Gabby doll.

Kaylee's Princess Birthday Party

Today Kaylee had her birthday party with her friends. She really wanted a princess party so a few months ago I started looking around for princess stuff for a princess party...then she went to one of her friends birthday party at a spa right next to our house and she knew exactly what kind of princess party she wanted. So, I gave up on trying to find princess stuff for a party and we decided to schedule a party at the Primrose Retreat and have a "Spolied Rotten" princess tea party.

We got there and they told us that the girl in charge of parties wasn't there yet but she would be in just a few minutes. By the time the party was scheduled to start the girl still wasn't there so they told us they would be having someone else come in to help us with our party. The other girl came in and basically said the dress-up clothes are over there they can change and play. She came back a few minutes later to check on things, eventually they had a fashion show, and tea party...anyway, I took a million pictures and tossed a ton but there are still a bunch that I liked so much I wanted to post them...so, here we go.

While we were waiting for guests, and for the party director to arrive, Kaylee and Gabby had fun exploring and playing with princess items throughout the room:

After they got the party going and told the girls to dress-up we had a whole bunch of princesses running around ready to pose:

For those of you who wonder what happens when you take college girls to a princess party with a runway...Here's what you get. The superstars: Marla, and Tiffany:
After dressing-up (and Marla and Tiffany's fashion show) the kids had a fashion show. Each child got to walk down the runway, twirl or pose, and then walk back. We convinced Jaren to walk Savannah down the runway and then twirl her.

After the fashion show the person that ended up being in charge of the party told the kids to play some more while she set up the tea party. There was one little girl from Kaylee's school that decided that she really liked Jaren and she was following him around and then was chasing him around. She got the other girls into it too. Izzie loved him so much, it was so funny watching them.

The "Lady in charge" was taking quite a while setting up the "Tea Party" and it was getting close to the time when the party was supposed to be over. So, while we waited for the tea party Kaylee opened her gifts:
The kids all got settled in for their "Tea Party" and sang "Happy Birthday" to Kaylee. They got pink cupcakes and either pink hot cocoa, or pink 7-up. I also got each of the girls a tiara set with earrings and a ring, and a personalized princess charm bracelet.

Here are a few group pictures I got at the party:

The first group is Gabby, Kaylee, Jaren, and Savannah (Kaylee's sister and cousins):
The next group is: Jessica, Annika, Kaylee, and Izzie (Some of Kaylee's friends from school):
After that I got: Gabby, Noelle, Maren, and Kaylee (Sister, and the best friends and old neighbors ever):
Finally we have the "Onlookers" they mostly sat, watched, laughed, and made sure everything was going okay. There is Nicola, Janeene, Ariana, Marla, and Tiffany:
For our last group picture we have all the kids together that attended the party: