Chopsticks

I thought it would be nice to document one of the fun Young Women's activities we did last month.
We decided it would be even more fun to combine the activity with the Mia Maids and Beehive class.

Me eating sushi for the first time...don't worry it was all cooked

The evening was centered around an article I found from the "Friend" magazine. Here is the link if you ever want to read it:
http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=21bc9fbee98db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=48238526addab010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1
It talks about the power we have and the force for good we can be when we are all united and working together.
We decided to expand the evening by eating Asian food. We had stir-fry, won tons, sushi, and Japanese candy. One of the leaders brought Hello Kitty chopsticks and stuff for the girls to make origami.

Gabriella really likes hanging out with the big girls

We had the lesson, ate and ended the night with a martial arts demonstration from Sarah, one of the beehives.

The girls left with a nice pair of chopsticks to use. They work really great for long hair.

Does She Dazzle You?

Yep, this little one dazzles me everyday.

(Will you by my Valentine?)




Gabriella is growing up (too fast for me). She is saying more words, making new discoveries, and getting into lots more trouble.

First I suppose I should start with our pre-valentine's day get-a-way. Thanks to Steve's many nights in a Marriott over the past year or so, we had enough points to stay across town at Cherry Creek in the JW Marriott. It is probably the second fanciest hotel I've stayed in, the first would our one night at the Ritz Carlton in Florida. That one was a bit too fancy but still very cool.





After we checked into the room we headed across the street to the mall and to let Gabriella play on the giant plastic breakfast food. Her favorites included the bacon slide, crawling on waffles, and walking on fried eggs.

(Me and my messy girl)
On to Valentine's:
This year I decided to make some cookies Steve made me when we were in college and I'm happy to say they turned out great!

After Steve got home from work I surprised him with the table all decked out with pictures of us from when we first met and from college. For dinner we had Tater-tot Casserole. YUMMY!
Here is Ella Bella eating her Valentine's day dinner. She dumped her dinner off her plate and here is what happened.

Let me leave you with this, we taught Gabriella how to sign "I love you".
"I LOVE YOU"

Visit To Washington

It feels like it has been so long since we last updated you on our adventures but at least I have a good excuse..."The Flu." Let me start at the end...on the way back from Washington State to Denver. After another delay we made it to our connection in SLC just in time. The plane was only half full and so we got 3 seats all to ourselves. It was great. Gabriella was fussy and climbing over us as expected but after she sat on me and got up there was the strangest smell. So I turn the light on and saw "stuff", okay diarrhea. Yes she had an accident that went up her backside and the majority of it ended up on me. To be exact the left side of my shirt and jeans...so gross! The next day I didn't feel so well and thought I had a cold, well as this week had progressed everyday has gotten worse. Steve's been great, taking care of us. Gabriella is sick too, only problem with that is that she wants me to hold her all the time. So I've succumbed to laying on the couch and letting her sit on me. Today is better but I feel so tired. Enough of that, time for a flashback.
Here are some pictures of our fun weekend with Steve's family.









"Pick a boo"

Feels like Forever

I'm not really sure where to start...
After we got back from our trip it was time to take down all the decorations.
Here is my very girly "Barbie" tree

Usually I don't mind but for some reason taking down the Christmas stuff makes me a little sad. But there wasn't time to be too downhearted because we've had a really busy January.
When we got back from Kentucky Gabriella was able to enjoy the stove we got for $20 at the outlet mall. We even found some little pots and pans on clearance at Target.


Speaking of Target...
Of course we had to check out the Target after-Christmas sale and here is what we got...

I had broken our previous waffle maker so this one seem just as good as any, and it is just so darn cute!

Here are some pictures for Erin:
I remembered the dress Erin bought for her and thought I'd take some pictures of her in it.



Like I said, this month has been a bit crazy but here a few of the fun things we've done so far.
PARTIES!
Ella Bella got invited to a few parties. Here are some pictures of the fun!
The first was a birthday "Princess" party:


Then later that week we were invited to another party!

Steve did something really great...Lauren had emailed me about a BYU grad who was from Colorado and wrote a MANGA, wondering if I would go and get a copy for her. Sure I thought, but later I realized I had double booked the evening. So Gabriella and I went to Caleb's party and Steve went to the book signing.
Steve was so sweet, he got me a signed copy too.
http://www.tentopet.com/foolsgold/index.html
Here I am this morning (warning no makeup)


Later Gator!

Ella's (most recent) camcorder debut

We thought we'd pull out the camcorder to get some film of her on the horse. Didn't quite work out, but the video is pretty great anyway.