a joyful feast

happy thanksgiving, from our little turkey!

for the love of books

i absolutely adore the fact that my girls love books.  when i hear things like, "paper books will soon be a thing of the past" or e-books are the wave of the future" it almost knocks the wind out of me.  the thought of not being able to feel, smell and flip the pages of a book is mortifying to me.  there is something special about the the tactile experience of books.  i love what i learn from books.  I love how finishing a book makes me feel.  the experience provided by books is priceless in my mind.  in our humble little home, we will continue to experience books together...even when that experience is made up of pulling all the books off the shelf and happily sitting on a pile of them.  read on!

emotions

hope is not afraid to show her emotions.  

the irony is, when she does, it is the most funny 

and most heartbreaking thing that we've ever seen. 

gummy bears in ice cream?

what kid doesn't want cotton candy ice cream with gummy bears?

i know when i was a kid, this kind of thing made all my dreams come true.

i am not such a fan of this kind of concoction anymore, but for any reasons, i 

love that minnie things gummy bears in ice cream is the best choice. 

the most meaningful reason?  because when christian and i were dating

he got gummy bears in his ice cream.  i was baffled.  i couldn't imagine that 

a grown man would enjoy gummy bears in ice cream.  but, he did.  he thought it 

best thing ever just like minnie thinks now.  minnie is a lot like her dad, 

gummy bears in ice cream is just the tip of the iceberg.  

they love gummy bears, and i love them! 

apple days

we went to the apple days celebration in river heights this summer.  

it was pouring during the parade.  but we stuck it out.  

i'm glad we did.  i mean, does it get any better than this?

 

water filled rain boots

chewing on the stroller straps

cuddles with papa

hot dogs and cheetos

fangs

since the halloween season is approaching, 

hope thought she would grow herself some fangs.

 

of course, minnie wanted in on the fun too.

art

thanks to aunt maggie, we now have an artist in the family.

if you don't believe me, just ask her.  

she will tell you that she is a goood little painter.  

little people words

minnie has started to say things correctly.  i already miss her little minnisms.  i wanted to write some of them down so we don't forget:

slastic = elastic

akin = napkin

cazy = crazy

citizen = cinnamon

cupcapes = cupcakes

fweater = sweater
fwimming suit = swimming suit

coin = corn 

foi = for

oatbeal = oatmeal

resterknot = restaurant 

racksul = rascal

backset = basket

spinkilers = sprinklers
wumper = romper
vattery = battery
ABCs = letters
mines = mine
anysing = nothing

puddle jumpers

it was raining the other day.

the only logical thing to do, 

was to put on our rain gear 

and go jump in the puddles. 

the puddles weren't all that 

deep.  but, now i have a 

daughter who loves to jump

in puddles and another 

who looks forward 

to jumping in them.

holding hands and holding hearts

i can't get enough of the feeling i feel when i see this happen....

winder rivers

christian took a trip to the wind rivers.  

his brother, pete, is the YM president in his ward in farmington.

none of the leaders were able to go on their high adventure, 

so pete recruited christian.  we missed him, but i'm glad he 

was able to get in the mountains this summer.  

it looked amazing.

family reunion

the sabey's invaded breckenridge.  and we had a great time while doing it. 

the burns and elaine sabey family reunion started off with a bang.  

the girls were really good on the drive.  during our stop at little america

i fed hope in the mother's lounge and christian was in charge of breakfast for 

he and minnie.  as you can see, it would definitely be considered a...

breakfast of champions!

 soren and minnie have a special bond.  they were 

excited to get to see each other, and not let anyone else

join their game of catch.

hope was just happy to be out of the car, 

hanging out with the princesses in her diaper. 

christian and spencer got a few casts in. 

when i say a few, i mean only a few.  

the mosquitoes on the river were incredible

and a storm was brewing.

 even though there were only a few casts, 

christian was able to slay a monster trout. 

it was about the size of my hand.

there was a picture taking class one morning.  

i had to miss it due to naps.  

as you can see by the picture below, 

i don't really need a class to take 

amazing pictures.  

(sarcastic tone) 

really though, colorado is so beautiful 

that even i can take a picture and capture some beauty.

we all love being with family.  

however, it can be a little exhausting

to be going, going, going all the time.

 minnie was taking a much needed 

tv break.  as you can see, she was 

LOVING it!

 the cousin picture was pretty rough.  

so many personalities to fit in such 

a small space. 

soren and hope summed up the cousin pic below:

i'm so grateful to those who make these reunions possible.  

christian and i believe there is real importance in the kids 

spending time with cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, 

great-grandparents, etc. it helps them understand who 

they are and where they came from.  it also helps us all

want to be better people.  

neck deep in princesses

princesses...minnie just can't get enough of them.

recently nana gave her a princess crown and a cinderella dress.  

she was adorned in this apparel for three straight days. 

on one of those days, she got in trouble.  

christian gave her a time out.  she got off of the time out chair

and defiantly declared, "princesses don't have time outs!"

turns out, at our house, princesses do have time outs. 

it isn't enough for her to be a princess by herself, 

minnie wants hope in on all this princess action. 

its hope's modus operandi to comply with her big sister's ideas.

so...hope is a princess too. 

while my back was turned, minnie shared her crown with hop. 

i love her "am i really doing this?" expression.

minnie was insistent that hope wear her princess aurora dress.

for those of you who aren't well versed on your princesses, 

aurora is sleeping beauty, the princess who wears pink. 

as i was trying to get a picture of them, i would say, "hope!" 

to try and get her attention.  every time i would call out to hope, 

minnie would insist, "she is aurora, not hope!" 

 

the north logan library had a frozen party.  

anna and elsa told their story and sang.

there was a game where the kids stuck their hand

in a bucket of ice water to grab a toy.

most importantly, they had a meet-and-greet with elsa and anna. 

minnie was beside herself.  she ran up to anna and hugged her

without any hesitation.  i picked her up to go and she yelled out, 

"anna!" and waved goodbye to her with everything she had. 

 

i'm not sure where this love of princesses originated from, 

but i figure we'll just work to temper it with 

toys like goldie blox, legos, etc. 

i figure there isn't any harm in minnie liking princesses, 

as long as she has exposure to other things as well. 

and, as long as she learns that princesses do get time outs when 

they misbehave, princesses will be involved in helping with chores

and princesses can do hard things. 

happy birthday hopey sister!

it's been a year since our lives were 

forever changed by the addition 

our sweet little hopey sister.

we celebrated with burgers, chips, cake and ice cream.

most importantly, we celebrated with family and friends.  

nana and papa were kind enough to let us celebrate in their backyard. 

pure joy!

classic happy hopey picture.  

she started clapping and laughing after 

we sang happy birthday to her.

i think she was satisfied with her accomplishment. 

i know i was impressed by her abilities. 

more than once, she dipped her face down 

into the cake to get a bite. 

i realize that the pictures below are all fairly similar.

however, i really wanted the progression of these shots. 

as you can see, the cake wasn't the only thing hope was after.

uncle lance's hat was doomed from the beginning.

hope has made great strides this year.  she is sitting up all by herself, she loves for us to sing to her (favorites include popcorn popping, and fishy fishy) , she claps at the end of songs and any time she is really happy, she is eating solids like a champ, she says ba, ba, ba and da, da, da, she rolls as a form a mobility, she gets on all fours and rocks back and forth, she brightens any room with her smile and brightens our lives with our presence.  we couldn't imagine life without hope. 

independence day

the fireworks in logan are always on the 3rd of july.  

we love this because the 3rd is hope's birthday.  

last year at this time, hope and christian were in the NICU, 

i was in recovery from labor and delivery, 

and minnie was with my parents at the dixon's 4th of july 

party waiting for her sister to be born.  

(although, i don't think she really knew she was waiting for that.)

this year, we were all at the dixon's celebrating hope and our country.

it was so much fun.

we ate hot dogs and treats.

minnie ran around the house with ladybug ears on.

hope was just being a little party animal. 

on the 4th, we went to the parade in hyrum.  

minnie loved waving at all the floats, getting candy and making a mess with otter pops.

hope and papa just had fun making faces at each other. 

i am grateful we live in this beautiful nation. 

i'm grateful for the sacrifices made so that we are free. 

i am grateful for hope of a bright future.

bathing beauties

the inventor of the rashguard will always have a special place in my heart. 

pure genius.

lovin' the camera

minnie was loving the camera.

i guess if i looked this natural in pictures,

i'd love the camera too.