Day 15: Camera Fun

While Sophia was taking a nap today, Gabriela and I decided to have some fun with the camera, using Julianne and each other as victims. Julianne hammed it up and then we just got plain silly.

This is Gabriela's notorious cheetah face. She growls at us all the time. Are you scared?

Then she wanted me to join her in playing a game called,"What animal face am I making?" I'm not as good as she is. She then got a turn with the camera taking pictures of me, but don't think for a minute I'm posting any of them.

Day 14: Battle Creek Falls Hike

I have this ridiculous need for adventure and a drive to get out and do something fun (despite the fact that I have such small children). I'm also very spontaneous. I usually get up in the morning and decide to do something. It's great for my kids, but not so great when I'm trying to find people to go with me on these adventures. I'm many of you have gotten phone calls from me early in the morning saying, "hey do you want to go...?".

Well this morning was no different and I decided to go do the Battle Creek Falls hike by myself. I tried several people to go with me, but all said no, so I decided to try it on my own. I packed the girl's backpacks with a snack, water bottle, hiking hat, and we were off. Once we got there and got on the trail, I got a little nervous. I wasn't sure where we were going and I felt a little like bear baite. The thoughts kept running through my mind of how I was going to protect my little ones if something (or in our days...someone) tried to attack us. I know, I'm super paranoid about stuff like that. The fact that I started passing men on the way down with guns on their backs didn't help. Was there something I was supposed to know? I asked them if they killed all the bears, and they said they had saved them for me. Thanks guys, way to calm my nerves.Julianne was not thrilled with being in the baby carrier and after about five minutes she let me know by screaming and squirming the rest of the trip. Sophia was a trooper, but Gabriela was a different story. She woke up exceptionally whiny this morning and that was part of the reason I had to get out of the house, but once on the trial, the whining increased. She lagged behind and said she couldn't walk that fast and was a real delite let me tell ya.

At about half way up the trail got pretty steep. The girls eventually ditched their backpacks on Mom and they pressed forward. We made it a little beyond the lower falls and I was sweating like a crazy woman. You would be too if you were carrying an extra thirty pounds on ya. I decided we better turn around before we get too far in and I would have to carry all three out of the canyon. That's when it really got interesting. I was so steep and we were on a dirt and rock trail that the girls got feaked out. They wanted to hold my hand. Here's the part where I really wish I had a picture. There is me with my screaming baby strapped to my chest thrashing about, a child's backpack over each shoulder and a child in each hand trying not to break my neck or go sliding down the mountain side. I actually stopped and said a prayer to ask the Lord to get us down safe and sane! To hold the earth under my feet! We made it down o.k. and we actually stopped and had a snack and some water on the way down. We met up with Miguel for lunch at Sonic and he justs laughs at me and smiles as I'm telling him about my adventure. He asks, "Why do you do these things to yourself ? You just ask for it." To be honest, I don't know, but I sure felt like super mom coming down that mountain and felt like I was getting stronger. We got out and had an experience and at least at the end of my life I won't have any regrets. I can say I made the most out of my time on earth...even if it causes my hair to grow grey and fall out.

Day 13: Backyard Obstacle Course/ Mexican Painting

I decided to make the girls an obstacle course in the backyard after watching them roam around not knowing what to do with themselves. It took a lot of creativity, but as I looked around our backyard I came up with a few ideas. I'm sure it could be better and yours would be much better than mine. We started by filling up a flower pot with dirt and running and dumping it in a bucket. Then you had to run up the makeshift ladder and slide down the slide.

You had to jump over a bunch of things and run around trees before you got to this creation. Walk up the plank and then jump off.

Then go cross the balance beam.

And you're done. Poor Sophia got stuck on filling her flower pot, so it wasn't much of a race. They enjoyed anyways.

We then did our Mexican paintings that were suppost to be done on Cinco de Mayo. They are suppost to mimick the art done in Mexicao on crushed tree bark. See Family Fun magazine's May issue for more details. Anyways, you cut the back out of a paper bag from the grocery store. Get it wet and crickle it up into a ball. Undo it and lay flat to dry. Once completely dry let the kids paint.

Day 12: Family Camping

Our ward had a family campout on Friday and I was so excited. I love camping! That is until the bear got the little boy in American Fork canyon a couple of years ago. That was a little too close to home for me and took my enthusiasm right out. I got the girls all pumped up about it. Gabriela initially told me she didn't want to go because there was bats and monsters out there. After calming her fears, and without bringing up bears, they were excited too. It turned out great, especially for me, because I went home and put Julianne to bed for fear she would get too cold, an went back in the morning for breakfast. I just love being in the middle of nowhere with beautiful surroundings. It simplifies things. Love it. This was the best idea ever. I threw her walker in last minute and she cruised all evening on the huge cement slab. Way to go Mom.

Sophia's form of entertainment the whole time.

I would have gotten better pictures, but my memory card was full.

Day 11: Dinosaurs and Pony Rides

I'm a little behind on this post, but on Wed. we went to Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum and to Farm Country. Gabriela was beside herself with excitement and she was so well behaved. I tried a new rule for her and it actually worked. I only lost her once...that's good for me. There are so many fun things to do there. Once I reassured them that the dinosaurs aren't alive and real, they settled in and had a great time. Here, they got to build their own dinosaur. This was my attempt at a scary picture. They weren't so into it.

There is an area where they have tons of dinosaurs to play with and Julianne was happy to get out of the stroller and get in on the action.

They have dinosaur dress ups.

This is the place where they can play in the water and sand and little mini dinosaurs. Our only problem was that there were these large school groups with older kids. The girls has to stand their ground or risk being pushed over.

The giant shark at the end. Gabriela's giving you her scared face.

They even got to dig for dinosaur bones.

Afterwards we headed over to farm country for a pony ride. Sophia thought that was fantastic. I decided I had done enough picture taking for one day and left the camera in the car. I know we'll go back so pictures there will be. The girls were great and we had a good time. On a side note, whenever you go up there, bring a jacket. It's so windy and gets pretty chilly.

Day 10: The Stroller Parade

This morning I had to meet at the church to get the 411 on my new calling...1st councelor in the Primary presidency. Woohoo!!! I decided to walk there and let the girls walk too. I thought that we all could use the excercise. I invited them to grab their baby dolls and their strollers and they could take their babies on a walk. If you live close to us, you probably heard us coming. Those little plastic wheels are quite noisy on the pavement. I couldn't believe Sophia actually walked as far as she did (actually I think she ran most of the way to try to keep up), but it was so fun to see them pushing their babies along.

Day 9: Digging in the Dirt

I've been wanting to plant some flowers really bad, and I lucked up yesterday on Mother's Day. I ended up getting a whole flat of pansies at church (they were the extra they had after giving them to all the Moms). I was so excited and the girls got out this morning and planted them. Gabriela was all about it. I couldn't believe she did it all by herself. Sophia found the worms and then would say,"Uh oh Mommy, it broke!" She had a piece of worm in each hand. Woops! The girls loved having the little pots they came in too and went to the backyard to fill them with dirt. I love the sight of a dirty little kid who's been playing in the dirt. Seriously! The first worm she found.