Lately........

I have been chomping on these......






Layin on this.......









And peeing on these....





Any guesses?




Audree and Olivia are going to be BIG SISTERS!!! WHOO HOO! Baby 1(or 2) is due in March....I hope I don't get too sick!

Tribute to my Grandmother

My grandmother passed last night at 7:20 after battling Lung cancer for the past 8 months. Grandpa gathered everyone around her around 7:00 and the family was able to sing "Love at Home" as she passed. Could there be a more perfect passing? My grandpa was giving a blessing by his sons shortly thereafter. We have know this has been coming for a while, it is bitter sweet though. She got to celebrate 60 years with her husband on this earth....and more in the eternities.

Here they are on their wedding day! She totally fit into that dress her whole life too...cool huh!


My sweet father wrote this about his mother...
"Leona was a very noble women. We asked her what her favorite calling was and she said "Being the mission Pres wife". She loved the missionaries as I'm sure you love our son. The only difference was that they were less expensive. She was fearless when it came to missionary work. She lead the mission in handing out copies of the Book of Mormon. When Chris' grandfather was bishop and stake president, they had 1 or 2 extra non-related children living with them all the time. A total of 32 extra children lived in their home, 16 of them living there for more than 2 years. She was the "mother of the world." When Kenyon was temple President, they had never felt closer. Kenyon gave over 1200 patriarchal blessings and Leona typed them all, including Chris'"







I was talking to Doug the other night about all the wonderful memories I have of my grandma....here are a few....
*Her homemade bread...yum!
*The sleepovers we would have at her house, she would give us backrubs and right before we would fall asleep she would give us a swat on the bum!
*I could go to them with anything at any time. When I was dating a guy I would ask for advice from her.
*She loved working hard. She would mow the lawn pull the weeds and make lunch for everyone that was around.
*Playing 10 to 1 with her and the family....this was always so fun!
*When we were little she would take us to the Thrift Store and we could buy a little something for ourselves.
*She also used to take us to the old Thriftee and buy us a 10 cent bag of popcorn.
*She always complimented me on how I mothered....this meant alot coming from a mother who brought 9 kids into this world.



I know there are many more...but for now that is all. I am most sad for my dad and his siblings. I am so thankful for the atonment and the knowledge of this gospel.
Thank you Grandma for an awesome Legacy!

The viewing and the funeral are this weekend in Thatcher. I am looking foward to being with family and celebrating her life!


Many of my cousins and family have written some amazing tributes too....here are some of them.

www.denabean.blogspot.com
www.stoddardstuff.blogspot.com
www.acrichardsonfamily.blogspot.com
www.candjmcneill.blogspot.com

More 4th fun....shooting pics

So I didn't want to take my big camera with me on a hike to go shooting with the girls. So my brother-in-law let me take some pictures with his. This is the girls
2nd time shooting guns....they quite like it! Which makes me happy because I never knew how to shoot a gun until I met Doug, and guns, hunting and all that will always be apart of Doug's life, I'm glad we can make it apart of our family life. (Was that like the biggest run-on sentence ever?) So here you go....the gun doesn't kick much...it's only a 22 and Olivia especially wanted to keep having turns.







This is how I shoot (Not)....but a great pic none the less!

Last night....

Dougie put together this for me!! YAY!! I am so excited! It's a super nice one from Costco! Can't wait to use it!


While I ate this.....


Do you think I am going to lose any weight? HA! Here's to hoping!

4th Of July in Thatcher.....part 1

We spent the past few days in Thatcher with my parents for the 4th of July holiday. It was just super! The weather was perfect, the company fabulous and we did so many fun things! Grandma just bought a new pool for the kiddos...we swam like 5 times....fun times!







And don't forget Grandma has the best dress-ups! A wore this little number the whole time we were there!



Off to the Fireworks! We grabbed a bite at Arby's then went to a Lds church right across from where the fireworks were showing....here are some classic A and O faces. A loves the camera...totally cheeses it up! And then there's O.....silly sweet girl.




Pictures with G & G in their Garth Brooks Patriotic shirts!! You only can wear them once a year right?






The next day we went up to the mountain for a picnic lunch. Now a Udall picnic is not complete without a foam to take a nap on, some games, and yummy food!

This is my sweet amazing Aunt Alayne. She makes everyone around them feel so special and loved, including my girls....she is definatly an amazing girl...so glad to capture this moment with them together.....she was saying right before the picture, "Isn't this just lovely?" That is her outlook on life!


And my cute Grandpa....this mountain lunch was his idea....it has been so hard for him to watch his wife deterioriate. He just loves talking and being with family.....





My mom brought this hammock up....and you can guess what she did the whole time we were there....yep! Pushed kiddos around! Don't you love how O is hoggin it!


I just love this pic of my neice A....eating a oreo...in the mountain..can it get any better?


That night we had a hill-billy bbq under my mom's porch. We grilled and let the kiddos swim while we talked....good times for sure!

Shortly after this my sweetie Doug showed up and surprised us! He was able to stay until Monday afternoon...he is so good to us!

The Next day was Sunday....My mom doesn't have a tub so we bathed the girlies outside! YEP! Only in Thatcher!



One more trip up to the Mountain on Monday with Dad, Uncle Kevin, Uncle Ryan and Renee. We played games, shot guns( more pics to come later) and ate some lunch....I wish we had a cool mountain this close!

And just to prove I was there...here I am in all my No makeup glory!!


Hope everyone else had a fab 4th! I love living in America and celebrating traditions with my family!

Tagged

I normally don't do tags but for fun...here you go. Thanks SARAH!

3 Joys
1-Spending time with Doug
2-My girls and the cute things they say
3-Shooting people:) you know taking pictures and meeting some really great people.

3 Fears
1-Doug getting in an accident and work...and not having him.
2-My kiddos dying before me.
3-Not being prepared for the future.

3 Goals-
1- Be better at personal prayer.....I need to make this a better habit....
2- Loose the chub...isn't this always a goal? Just live healthier I guess.
3- Be a better mother. Read more about parenting.

3 Obsessions
1-Photography...I seriously spend alot of hours editing, looking at other peoples work and learning more about photography.
2-Qt crushed ice.....YUM!
3-Dougie says Blogging HAH!


3 Interesting Facts
1-I sit with my pinky toes interlinked when I lay down and watch TV.
2-I love finding a deal.....I will find something that I like and have a price of what I would spend on it in my head before I even look at the price. If it is too much I won't buy it. I often say...."Oh that is only $5.00 cute"
3-I used to teach 1st grade. It was an awesome job. I sang and danced with my students all day long. I also had a piano in my classroom and would play songs that they could sing. I loved teaching.....I left because I got prego!

I now tag....Angie, Janiel, Jessica and Lisa......thanks for reading!

I don't need milk....

Just for journaling purposes I absolutly must share what Olivia said to Doug the other day. He came home for about an hour and had to go back out to work. As he was kissing her goodbye this was their conversation.....

O: "Dad why you have to go to work?"
Dad: "To make some money to buy you milk." She was holding her sippy cup.
O: "Dad I don't need milk, I need YOU! You go to work tomorrow." Me in the background with tears welling up.......

What a sweet moment. They sure miss their dad these days, but it is only for a few short months. Anyways......just had to share that cute moment!

Arizona Museum for Youth.....and other parts of our day

Today we went to the Az Museum for youth in downtown Mesa. We have a membership and love going because it is a fun Air Conditioned outing for us. They have a room for 4 and under that we spend most of our time in. There are crafts, kitchens, books, cars, slides, puppets and many more things that are totally engaging to 2 year olds. We love it there and everyone with little kiddos should go check it out. We went today with our friends, Jessica, Sage and Sydnee. We love having them as neighbors and were so glad they could come with us.
Here is Sage.....with some cupcakes!














After naps I was doing the dishes and came upon the girls doing this....doesn't this just melt you heart? I love sweet moments like this. And yes Audree is chewing her fingernails....weird!






During dinner it rained for about 10 minutes. After the rain the girls went and splashed in the puddles for the first time. They loved it as you can see and were sad to come in.








And look who we have for the next 3 days.....cutie Mr. Colin my nephew...it will be fun to have a boy around!

And the best part of the day is that Doug came home at 6:30 and got to see and play with his little girls....He has been so busy and working until 9,11, or 1 each night. What a fun day huh?!!!

Overnight Getaway

It was so great to go and have a few moments alone with my sweetie. We had a great time just being together and loved every minute of it! We first took the kiddos to my Brother and Sister-in-law's house where they played with cousins and their super dog Lucy. Thanks Christi!

We then went to the Melting Pot....the atmosphere was AWESOME! The food.....just ok. Honestly I would have enjoyed Claim Jumper or Carabba's more....we were hungry later that night too so we went and got a snack down the road...bummer. The desert was yummy though!


We then went to the Historic Arizona Biltmore. Built in the 1920's I felt like we had stepped back in time. The architecture was really neat and our room was nice. I felt like we were in the movie "The Rocketeer."



Here is some cool landscaping out front. It's says Az Biltmore.


We swam, slept in till 9:00 (gasp) and went to Breakfast at Crackers.....the YUMMIEST Breakfast place in the valley for sure!

I love that we took the time to do this.....thanks honey for a fun little getaway. I just wish our anniversary wasn't in the busy season so we could do more......oh well!