A TALE OF TWO PRINCESSES

ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA

2010-06-04T12:32:00.000-07:00

In April we took a family vacation to Florida for a week. The trip started off a little rough with lost luggage and Abby so generously sharing her strep throat with me. But after getting us both on antibiotics and our luggage finally showing up we had wonderful time. The girls enjoyed swimming in the pool, collecting seashells on the beach, splashing in the ocean, building sandcastles with Daddy, playing mini-golf and jumping on the bed in our hotel room. It was fun to get away relax and enjoy the sunshine!

The sunset

Abby Daddy & Ally

Abby Ally & Mommy

Abby & Ally

Abby Mommy & Ally

Mommy & Daddy

Our Family

Ally & Abby

Abby & Ally

Abby Daddy & Ally

Ally

Abby & Ally

Abby

Mommy & Daddy

Abby & Ally

Daddy & the girls

Abby

Ally & Abby

Abby

Abby & Ally

Ally

Abby

Mommy Ally & Abby

Ally Daddy & Abby

Ally & Abby

EASTER FESTIVITIES

2010-06-04T12:06:00.000-07:00

.....Egg Hunt.....

Ally's finds

Abby's finds

the girls freezing their buns off.

......Decorating Eggs.....

Ally

Abby

Abby's Eggs

Ally's Eggs

.....Easter Morning.....

finding the baskets

discovering the treasures.....

playing with it all....

WINTER FUN

2010-02-25T11:14:00.001-08:00

My kids love to be outdoors, they love sledding, ice-skating, and I think their favorite thing to do is to eat the freshly fallen snow. This winter I have tried to get them out as much as I can stand it, and they were pretty lucky we had quite a few warm-enough days that I was able to get them out. So here are a few picture of all our outdoor fun this winter. Ally even put her skates for the first time this year, and was starting to get brave enough to let go by the last time we took her. And Abby of course took right too after the first time we went.

Abby & Daddy

Ally & Mommy

Daddy & Ally

All of us

Daddy & Abby

Mommy Abby & Ally

Abby playing hockey

Ally

Abby

Daddy & Ally

Abby

Mommy & Ally

Abby

Ally

CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES 2009

2010-01-14T14:32:00.000-08:00

Here are pictures of all the fun stuff that went on in the Rekstad family during Christmas time this year. We are so blessed to have family come and stay with us over the holidays, and we also enjoy the extra time we get to spend with the ones that live close to us.

HE'S MAKING A LIST...

2009-12-16T05:43:00.000-08:00

This year we took the girls again to the Holiday celebration in downtown Elk River. They loved seeing the animals and sitting on Santa, telling him of their hopes for double-strollers for their dolls. They even got to get their nails done and have their faces painted at a salon. There also was a sleigh they could sit in and a place to decorate a stocking and everywhere you went there was hot chocolate and cookies, what could be better than that. They had a blast, and the weather was pretty good too. Now lets only hope they can make it on that "good" list....

The rein-deer

Abby & Ally

Riding in the sleigh

Sitting on Santa

Abby getting her nails decorated

Ally showing Daddy her freshly polished nails

Abby's face painted with Santa

Ally's face painted with a stocking

....AND CHECKING IT TWICE!

THANKSGIVING

2009-12-13T17:44:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving with the Gourley side

Ally & Papa

Taylor Beckham Sean Ally Curt & Abby

Me Taylor Beckham Sean Ally Curt Abby & Jolynn

Grandma & the grandkids

A VISIT FROM COUSINS

2009-12-13T16:55:00.000-08:00

We were so lucky to get to spend a little over a month with my sister, Jolynn and her kids before they moved to Vegas. Taylor and Abby were as always inseperable and had tons of fun doing lot of girly things, and Ally loved tagging along behind them. She also found some time to bond with Beckham. We had so much fun we are sad to see it end, but excited that we will be able to visit them in Vegas, where it is much warmer than it is here. Thanks for coming you guys, the memories will last a lifetime!

The kids playing with Aunt Jen on the trampoline

Great Papa Stephen & all the kids

Taylor & Abby making homemade ice cream on Taylor's b-day

Taylor Abby & Ally

Abby & Taylor

We even got to celebrate Taylor's 6th birthday with her
Ally & Beckham playing with moon sand
Ally & Beckham snuggling during a sleepover

Abby & Taylor

Abby & Taylor with their gingerbread houses they made at a gingerbread house making party...they had sooo much fun!

The three girls....it was impossible to get them to all cooperate at the same time

the three girls being silly

Grandma & the kids

Me & Jolynn

Me Jolynn & Mom

NORTHSTAR COMMUTER TRAIN

2009-12-12T19:56:00.001-08:00

Curt got us free tickets to ride the Northstar Commuter Train right after it opened. I have to admit I thought he was a total dork for even wanting to ride the train, but there were about 2000 other dorks just like him lined up to ride it. The ride down there was very crowded, but we did mange to find seats even though they weren't together. We went to Nicollet Mall and found Applebees...yes I know we could have just gone there in Elk River, but I was very nervous about there being enough room on the train for our ride home, that I just wanted a familiar place to eat so we could do it quickly and then find our way back to the train station. The ride home wasn't nearly as crowded, and we did find seats together this time. The girls had lot of fun, and loved every minute of it. I have to admit it was a fun family outing, and I am glad we had the opportunity to go...will I do it again...probably not :D

Daddy & Abby

Mommy & Ally

Ally

Ally & Abby

Abby & Ally

THE AMERICAN GIRL DOLL STORE

2009-12-12T19:35:00.000-08:00

Abby was invited to a birthday party at the American Girl Doll store. She had so much fun eating and sharing a lunch with her doll. This will probably be something she will always remember. And yes they even bring out food and drinks for the dolls.

Abby and her doll

Abby Judie & Sam with their dolls

Abby feeding her doll her dessert!

RAKING UP THE LEAVES

2009-12-12T19:17:00.001-08:00

Every fall the girls always enjoy raking up the leaves and then jumping in the big pile. Ally especially enjoyed it this year. They also attempted to help us rake, again Ally was a little more enthusiastic about helping than Abby was. The weather was just gorgeous this day too.

Abby

Abby & Ally

Ally

Abby

Ally

Abby attempting to help

Ally helping

TRICK-OR-TREATING

2009-11-19T11:21:00.001-08:00

This year Daddy & Uncle Ricky took the girls out trick-or-treating, I kinda missed taking them out, but it was fun to see all the kids from the neighborhood dressed up. Ally missed Mommy half way through so I had to go pick her up, then Abby met up with some of her friends and they finished the rest of the way around. When Daddy brought her home she was mad that they had skipped one of the streets. So I of course made him take her back out, and then Ally wanted to go again too, the next time the came back they were all smiles!

The girls and me in our Halloween shirts

Abby the cowgirl

Abby all ready to go

Ally-Dora

Abby & Ally

Sammi, Briannah, Izaak, Ally & Abby

Abby

Emma, Abby, Jenna & Judie

The first time they came in....

When they came back the second time....

ALL SMILES!

ABBY'S SCHOOL HALLOWEEN PARTY/PARADE

2009-11-17T10:56:00.001-08:00

Abby's class had a party and a parade of the whole school. I got to be one of the parent helpers. It was lots of fun to see her with her friends all dressed up. The kids had to be a character from a book, so she picked her Sleeping Beauty book. She had lots of fun parading around the school, and playing games and making crafts in the classroom.

Abby & Lauren

Abby with some purple vampire teeth

Abby Lauren & Miranda

Abby's whole class

Abby making a popcorn turkey

TRICK-OR-TREATING DOWNTOWN ELK RIVER

2009-11-16T10:27:00.000-08:00

Every year the kids can dress up and go Trick-or-Treating to the businesses in dowtown Elk River. This was our first year, and I could only bring Ally, because Abby was at school. She got a ton of candy, and we had lots of fun. Thanks Jodi for inviting us! Although Ally was very sad that Abby couldn't be with us, she started crying on the way home that she missed Abby. She finds it very hard to do fun things without her sister, I am trying to help understand that they can both have fun doing different things.

Ally doing one of the games they had set up

Emma & Ally

getting some candy

Ally..one the few smiles she did give

Ally & Emma

PUMPKIN CARVING

2009-11-16T09:47:00.000-08:00

Our friends Kody & Tayna suggested getting together to carve pumpkins, now we have never done this in the past, because I like to avoid all messy projects in my house, but Curt thought it sounded like fun. So I went and bought a carving kit from Walmart, and Kody & Tayna brought some pumpkins and we carved pumpkins for the first time as a family. I at first told Curt he had to do all the messy stuff, but I eventually got over the grossness of it and helped Abby get hers all nice and cleaned out. Abby thought it was lots of fun, and literally had pumpkin covering her...she needed a bath. Ally wasn't touching the stuff and freaked out when she accidentally got a little on her hand. We had lots of fun and a I think the pumpkins turned out great for first-timers. This is for sure a tradition we will keep...thanks Kody & Tayna!

Curt and Ally

Abby & Kody

Abby

Curt & Ally's finished product

Kody & Tayna's finished product

Kody & Tayna

Mine & Abby's finished product!

ANOKA WARD FALL FESTIVAL

2009-10-28T12:09:00.001-07:00

Grandma invited us to the Anoka Ward Fall Festival. The girls had a great time dressing up, playing games, trunk or treating and of course there was lots of delicious chili and corn bread.

Dora-Ally

Cowgirl-Abby

Cowgirl & Dora

making crafts with mommy

Grandma and Abby eating chili

Dora fishing

Cowgirl fishing

Ready to trunk-or-treat

PUMPKIN PATCH

2009-10-27T10:58:00.001-07:00

The girls always love to go to Berry Hill Pumpkin Patch. They love picking out pumpkins, riding in the wagon, petting all the animals and of course enjoying a treat afterwards. We always have a great time here

Ally & Abby

Abby petting the donkey

I just thought this was so cute!

petting the bunny

Out to the pumpkin patch

Ally found her pumpkin

Abby found her pumpkin

Abby & Ally with their pumpkins

back up to the farm

feeding the donkey

p..u... these chickens stink!
!

Ally & Abby

Ally Daddy & Abby

Ally Mommy & Abby

Enjoying some popcorn and soda...although by the looks on their faces it doesn't look so enjoyable....I think they were sick of the camera at this point.
Peter peter pumpkin eater....

APPLE ORCHARD FIELD TRIP

2009-10-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

Abby's class took a fieldtrip to the apple orchard. Daddy was able to go with as a chaperone. Abby had fun going on a hayride through the spooky forest, finding her way through the crate maze, petting the animals, jumping on haybales, and of course learning all about the apples. Then they enjoyed apples as a snack back at her school.

learning about the apples

going on the hayride

Abby & Lauren

Abby finishing the crate maze

Abby driving the tractor

walking the beam

Jumping off the haybales

SNOW!

2009-10-21T06:17:00.000-07:00

Last Monday we woke up to SNOW! Yes snow on October 12....and it snowed most of the day. The girls couldn't wait to go out and play. And the snow was perfect for making a snowman. It was a bit early for snow, but the girls had a blast playing in it for the day.

Abby Emma & Ally

Abby making a snow angel

Abby's snow angel

Ally couldn't wait to eat the snow

Ally

Abby with her snowman...yes she even gave him legs!

GOPHER GAME

2009-10-21T06:06:00.000-07:00

Curt and Abby had the opportunity to go to the Gopher football game. It was pretty cold, but they bundled up and had a great time! Thanks Uncle D and Kirsten for the tickets!

CORN PIT

2009-10-15T11:07:00.001-07:00

The girls always love to go to 101 Market and jump in the cornpit...today we packed a lunch and had a little picnic there...we have to take advantage of any warm days we get. The girls had fun burying their pumpkins and then trying to find them.

Ally

Emma Abby & Jenna

Ally

Ally Emma Jenna Abby & Emma

Ally Emma Abby Jenna & Emma

Abby

ALLY'S 1ST TRIP TO THE DENTIST

2009-10-15T10:20:00.000-07:00

Ally had her first trip to the dentist. She was such a big girl, she hopped right in the chair and opened up her mouth. She was so excited to go and get a princess toothbrush, a ball and a pencil, like her big sister. They also gave her flossers and toothpaste. And the best part....NO CAVITIES!!

waiting to have her teeth cleaned

Mary showing Ally all her cool tools

all clean!

NAIL ARTISTS

2009-10-15T10:15:00.003-07:00

The girls got some nailpolish for their birthdays and wanted to play salon...I was their first victim, I mean client. They did a really good job for being 3 and 6. I now call them my personal nail artists :D

PUMP IT UP PARTY

2009-10-15T09:30:00.001-07:00

The girls wanted to have a joint birthday party this year at a Pump It Up. They had so much fun jumping, sliding and bouncing...the adults even have fun too! It was a great birthday party for them, they loved having all thier friends and running around playing together. Then they enjoyed some cake and juice, followed by the much anticipated presents...thanks to all their friends who came, the girls had a blast!

Abby

Ally

Abby

Ally

Inside the jumper

The whole crew

blowing out the candles

enjoying cake & juice

Gabe Ally & Elijah...being silly

Abby & Ally in the birthday throne

Opening Presents

party favors!!

FAMILY PARTY

2009-10-15T08:40:00.000-07:00

It is always so fun to get together with all of our family to celebrate the girls' birthdays. The girls wanted pizza, a tinkerbell cake, and mint chip and oreo ice cream. They had lots of fun playing with their great grandparents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and especially loved seeing baby Kari...she is so cute! They got many wonderful presents...thank you all for coming!

Ally & Uncle Ricky

Abby & Aunt Jen

The cake

Ally and the cake

Ally & Abby

Abby Ally & Kari

Abby opening presents

Ally opening presents

Dollars from Great Papa & Great Grandma

Hugs for Great grandma

Abby with the cake

blowing out the candles

Great Papa & Great Grandma with the girls

Ally Daddy & Baby Kari

ABBY'S 6TH BIRTHDAY

2009-10-09T10:27:00.000-07:00

September 24 was Abby's 6th birthday. She like her sister woke up early and wanted to open her presents from Mommy, Daddy & Ally. She was very excited about them. Then she wanted to go to school. She was excited to get to wear a birthday crown, and bring mini oreos as a treat for her class. Daddy went to join her for lunch on her special day. When she got home she requested french toast for her birthday supper. Then the girls had gymanstics, and their friends there brought some cupcakes and we had a little cupcake party afterwards. I can't believe she is 6 years old already!!

Ready to open presents....

a nintendo ds from Mom & Dad....

and a princess game from Ally

more accessories from Mom & Dad

cupcakes after gymnastics with Jenna, Emma & Judie!

ALLY'S 3RD BIRTHDAY

2009-10-09T09:21:00.000-07:00

September 22 was Ally's 3rd birthday. She woke up really early and was very excited to open her presents from Mommy, Daddy & Abby. She loved all of them. Then her and Mommy went shopping to finish getting all the stuff for their birthday parties. After that her and I went and had lunch at Abby's school. Ally loved eating like a big girl....which basically means she took 2 bites like her sister and threw the rest away...what a waste! Then she got to go to the park with Daddy and Uncle Ricky. Then that night she requested waffels for supper. She is so grown up I can't believe it.

Ready to open her presents.....

a leapster from Mom & Dad....

and a Dora game from Abby

Me & my birthday girl

Playing with her new leapster....she had to wait until we got batteries....silly mommy can't remember everything!

OTSEGO FESTIVAL

2009-10-08T11:49:00.000-07:00

The girls and I went to the Otsego Festival one weekend in September. The girls had fun riding ponies, going down giant inflatable slides, and petting the animals in the petting zoo. The girls were afraid of the animals at first, but by the end Abby was feeding them out of her hand. Ally still just threw the food down in front of them. It was a really cool petting zoo, the kids could go right in with the animals. The girls had a good time, and it kept us busy while Daddy was out golfing.

Ally riding a pony for the first time

Abby & the pony

Ally

Abby

Abby & Ally with a calf

Crazy Ally

Abby feeding the goat

Abby & Ally feeding the goat

Abby petting the bunny

FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

2009-09-30T18:56:00.001-07:00

Abby was so excited to go to Kindergarten, I was so nervous to send her. She couldn't wait to get on the bus with big kids. She got up early, put on her new outfit she picked for the first day, ate all her breakfast and was all set to go. When we got to the bus stop, we discovered that her new friend, Lauren who she had met at the open house, and who was also in her class, lived just down the street from us...and we thought we knew all our neighbors. The bus finally came and off they went...Ally was very sad to say good-bye to her sister. She was very clingy and didn't know what to do without her sister there. We managed to keep ourselves busy all day, and finally walked back down to the bus stop at 4 pm. When Abby came off the bus, first she was very concerned that her friend Jenna, who gets off at the stop before hers, had left her backpack on the bus, then she opened up her backpack, pulled out her folder and showed me that she had HOMEWORK! She was so excited...lets hope she keeps that up right? She had a great first day and couldn't wait to go back.

Abby

Abby & Ally

The 4 of us

Abby & Uncle Ricky

Abby & Grandma Sandi

Abby & Grandma

Abby & Mommy

Daddy & Abby

Ally & Abby walking to the bus stop

Sammi & Abby

Lauren & Abby

Getting on the bus

Grandma, Ally & Mommy walking home

Coming home off the bus....with hers and Jenna's backpacks

Abby & Madison

A "GIRLY" DAY

2009-09-30T18:47:00.000-07:00

Since this was Abby's first year of school I decided to have a girly day with her so she could pick out some new clothes for school. She wanted to go shopping first, so she picked out a very cute outfit for the first day of school, then it was out to lunch. I was hoping for a nicer sit down place, but she insited it have a play-land, so we ended up going to Burger King, which did save me money, but wasn't exaclty what I had in mind. Last she wanted to have her nails done, so we went to the local nail salon, and she got to pick out her colors for her finger and toes. They had sooooo many choices it literally took her about 10 min to decide which colors. But she loved every minute of it, and had a huge smile on her face the whole time. I am hoping to keep this up as a yearly tradition...it was a lot of fun!

First her fingers....

then her toes...

now they are drying

All done!

Look at that smile....she is such girly-girl....I love it!

STATEFAIR

2009-09-30T18:34:00.000-07:00

Since we hadn't been to the Statefair in about 5 years we decided to take the girls and go enjoy some deep-fried food on a stick. The girls had a great time going on rides and eating lots of junk food. They also liked seeing all the animals. We had lots of fun, but will probably wait another 5 years before we go again.

Abby& Ally

Ally

Abby

Stephen & Abby

Abby & Smokey

Abby

Ally & Me

Ally & Abby

Ally & Abby petting a chicken

Abby on the giant tea cup (Ally is in there too, you just can't see her)

SAILING

2009-09-30T18:26:00.000-07:00

In August we had the opportunity to go on a sailboat with our good friends, Dana & Amy. The weather was perfect, and we had a lot of fun with great friends.

Amy & Curt

Me & Curt

A cool boat we saw

The whole crew (plus a random passer-by)

Me & Curt

ABBY'S LAST SOCCER GAME

2009-09-16T11:56:00.001-07:00

Abby's soccer is all done for the season. She had lots of fun playing, and it was especially fun to have Daddy and Brie as her coaches. They did a great job and you could see improvement from the begining until the end with Abby. She started out more concerned about matching shin-guards and water bottles, and eventually realized that she was there to score goals and not socialize. Thanks Daddy and Brie for a great season!

Daddy getting them ready for game time

Abby doing a corner kick

Abby's Team

Coach Brie Coach Curt

Makenzie Avery Abby Elly Jayden

Abby & Daddy

Coach Brie & Abby

NATIONAL NIGHT OUT

2009-09-16T11:38:00.000-07:00

We love National Night Out, we are pretty much stuck outside with our kids everyday and night that it is not raining, so it is especially fun when the neighbors are all out too. We love our neighborhood and the wonderful neighbors that we have, so it great to have all the kids playing together and enjoying themselves. We feel very blessed to have such wonderful people around us all the time!

CC Tori Abby Emma Sammi & Ally

Sammi & Ally

Abby & Tori

Ally & Emma

Jim-Jim...Little Emma's Dad

We have a ton of little girls in our neighborhood...seriously we are in real trouble if we all still live here when they hit puberty....can we say DRAMA!!

TEA PARTY

2009-09-03T08:31:00.000-07:00

Ally found a tea set at one of the neighbor's garage sales, and so the girls wanted to have a tea party, well actually water & cookies. The were extra excited when two little girls from the nieghborhood came walking down the street and wanted to join them.

Ally CC Abby & Tori

CC & Abby

Ally

HOME MADE ICE CREAM

2009-09-03T08:21:00.000-07:00

Our neighbor Sammi bought this ice cream maker for $1 at a garage sale. So we decided to make some homemade ice cream. I was surprised it actually worked, and it tasted really yummy too. We made vanilla and then we had toppings for the girls to put on theirs. A very fun summertime activity. Next time we might try chocolate...yum!

Ally Abby & Sammi waiting for the ice cream

Our delicious ice cream

Abby is so excited to try it she can hardly wait

They loved eating it :D

They even brought a bowl over to Sammi's Mom.

ROLLERBLADES/SKATES

2009-09-02T08:44:00.000-07:00

Abby discovered my old rollerblades in the garage and was determined to learn how to use them. Her friend Sammi has some and Abby always loves to do what the big kids are doing. So she rode or I mean stumbled around in mine for one night and the next day we went and got her a pair that were her size. She picked up on it pretty quickly and within a day could do it all by herself. I still need to get some pics of her in her new ones, but these are some pics of her in mine and Ally attempting to use the velcro over your shoes Dora rollerskates.

DANCE CAMP

2009-09-02T08:13:00.000-07:00

This summer Abby went to dance camp for a few days, I was a nervous wreck having her gone and so far away, ok I know Fridley isn't that far from Elk River, but I have seperation issues! She had a lot of fun learning dances and playing with her friends. The first day she came home and said "Mom they made us dance like every 5 minutes!" I said " Well what did you think you were going to do at dance camp?" She repied "Just play!" She did have a good time even though all they did was dance. She went with some of her friends from the neighborhood who go to dance with her.

The nieghborhood girls

being silly!

Abby

The Show

DADDY O'S/WATER FOUNTAIN

2009-08-07T13:03:00.000-07:00

We went out to Daddy O's Cafe, it is a small little cafe in downtown Elk River. We have always seen it, but never gone before. The food was really yummy, and afterwards we let the girls run around in the little fountain outside.

Abby & Daddy @ Daddy O's

Abby & Ally

Abby

Ally

Abby & Ally

OUR SAND CASTLE

2009-08-06T12:28:00.001-07:00

While Abby was at Dance Camp, Ally and I went to the beach. She wanted me to make a sand castle with her so we did our best. I am not the most creative, but she liked it. I don't think she knew what to do all by herself without her sister there. She made me do everything with her that day.

NEW BUNK BEDS

2009-08-06T07:09:00.000-07:00

The girls finally got their new bunk beds. They love them and they love sharing a room. And now that they have been sleeping in them for about a month we have a pretty good bedtime routine down. Although every once in a while Ally has trouble falling asleep and she keeps Abby awake. I was a little worried about morning time, because Ally gets up earlier than Abby, but I told her to just come out and find me and to let Abby sleep in, and she does. So far so good.

Running Aces Horse Racing

2009-07-23T12:59:00.000-07:00

Aunt Jen & Uncle Matt came down and invited us to go to the horse races with them. The girls always have a ton of fun watching the horses, and they love when they get to pet them. It was fun to meet up with some of our other relatives there too.

Mommy & Ally

Uncle Jim, Papa, Grandma, Uncle Bob & Aunt Peggy

Aunt Jen & Uncle Matt

Ally (with her new "cheesy" smile)

Sammi, Abby & Haylie

Me & Curt

Sammi, Ally & Me

Ally, Papa & Me

Uncle Stephen & Abby

Aunt Jen & Ally

Sammi

AUNT JULIE VISIT

2009-07-15T07:53:00.000-07:00

We were so lucky to have Aunt Julie come visit us for a few days. Abby & Ally love when their aunties come to visit them. We enjoyed going to the beach, bonfires, crafts, the 4th of July fireworks, and Nickelodeon Universe. We can't wait til she comes back again!
THE BEACH

Ally

Abby

Abby & Aunt Julie doing crafts

Abby playing dominoes with Great Papa

BONFIRE

Me, Ally, Abby, Papa, & Aunt Julie

Me, Ally, Aunt Jen, Aunt Julie & Abby

Papa, Abby & Daddy

Ally, Grandma & Abby

Stephen, Ally & Grandma

4TH OF JULY

Abby & Ally in their dresses from Auntie Jen & Auntie Julie

Aunt Julie & the girls

Our Family

Julie & Me

Aunt Julie, Abby & Me

Aunt Julie, Me & Ally

Abby with a sparkler

Ally with a sparkler

Everyone watching fireworks

NICKELODEON UNIVERSE

Abby, Stephen & Ally with Spongebob

Curt, Julie & Abby on The Backyardigan's Swing-a-long

Abby on Swiper's Sweeper

Abby & Ally with Blue

Abby on the Splat-o-Sphere

Daddy & Ally on Swiper's Sweeper

Abby also decided she was brave enough to get her ears pierced....

check out the video!

Before...doesn't she look nervous.....

After.....she didn't even cry!

Sorry this is sideways, but I don't know how to rotate it...if you know how I would love to learn :D

ABBY'S FIRST SOCCER GAME

2009-07-15T07:44:00.000-07:00

Abby decided to play soccer this summer, she really wanted to do tennis, but she has to wait until she is 7. So she settled for soccer. She is having a lot of fun, although the best part is the treat they get after each game and practice, she told me. They won their first game 4-1!

after the game with her treats

Abby after their first win!

THE BEACH/SWIMMING

2009-06-30T19:57:00.001-07:00

My girls love to swim, whether it is at the beach or in the back yard, they have a blast. I took them to the beach earlier this summer and it was so awesome. We were one of 4 families there, so we practically had the place to ourselves for like 2 hours, then the sun came out and it started to fill up, but it was nice to be able to look out and spot your kids because they were the only ones out there. We have gone back a couple more times, but it was on sunny days and the place is always packed, but the kids love to swim.

Abby with her new floatie

Ally

Ally splashing in the water

Ally

Abby

Ally

Abby being buried in the sand

Ally being buried in the sand

We also were invited to one of Abby's friend's pool to swim. The girls had a lot of fun with the floaties and swimming around in the pool.

Abby

Ally

Daddy, Ally & Abby

Swimming in the backyard...

Abby Ally & Sammi

Abby & Sammi

Ally

Sammi, Abby & Ally

COMO ZOO

2009-06-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

I took the girls to Como Zoo a few weeks back, Ally had never been to the Zoo before. She loved seeing all the animals, especially "The Sparky Show", although she was sure it was "Andre" she loves that movie, and she kept calling Sparky, Andre. Abby would correct her until I finally told Abby that Andre and Sparky are friends so he wouldn't mind being called Andre. Another favorite was the giraffes, it was hard to get Ally to leave them. Then I let them go on a few rides, again Ally had never been on rides before. I was a little nervous, because she is such a dare-devil, but I told her they would kick us out and we would have to go home if she didn't just stay sitting with her hands in her lap. I was surprised how well she did, she even wanted to do the swings with Abby, and she was tall enough, but I lied and told her she was too little. I just wouldn't be able to handle having her way up in the air like that. After our rides we enjoyed some sno-cones and then headed home. We all had lots of fun!

Watching "The Sparky Show"....I mean "Andre"

Sparky

Abby

Ally, my little monkey

The Giraffe

Abby & Ally

Riding the train

I think she was looking to see if I was watching....lil devil

Riding the magic carpet

Abby on the swings

Driving the cars

Enjoying a sno-cone!

PRESCHOOL GRADUATION

2009-05-22T09:32:00.001-07:00

Abby had her preschool graduation yesterday. She is very excited to go into Kindergarten, but she will really miss all her friends and wonderful teachers at preschool.

Abby & Ally

Abby & Jenna

Jenna, Abby & Emma

Abby & Emma

Our Family

Abby, Daddy & Ally

Abby, Mommy & Ally

The Graduate

Daddy & Ally

The Class

Mrs. Amy, Abby & Mrs. Lisa

The best teachers in the world....Abby will really miss them next year!

Abby & Daddy

Abby & Ally

Abby & Kali

Abby & Bricyn

Abby & Jack

I think she has a crush on him....he is all she talks about!

Abby with her flower from Daddy!

SLIP-N-SLIDE

2009-05-21T19:24:00.001-07:00

The girls got a new slip-n-slide from the Easter Bunny, and they have been begging since Easter to set it up, so yesterday when it was 90+ degrees outside we braved the wind and got out the slip-n-slide. Abby invited some of her friends and the girls had a blast running through it despite almost being blown away....I think I was the only one bothered by the wind. They also enjoyed freezies, thanks to Grandma & Auntie Jen, and oreos. It was a lot of fun, and we cannot wait for more summer days to come....without the wind!

Abby

Ally

Abby

Madison, Abby, Jenna, Emma & Ally

Enjoying some freezies
Madison, Ally, Emma, Abby & Jenna

Jenna, Ally & Madison

Eating oreos

Emma, Jenna, Abby & Madison

THE EGGS HAVE HATCHED!

2009-05-19T11:22:00.001-07:00

On Sunday we noticed that 2 of the 3 eggs had hatched and then yesterday the third one finally hatched. The birds are so tiny, and not very cute or cuddly looking, but the girls like watching them, and Mrs. Robin (thats what we call the momma bird). They make the cutest little chirping noises.

ABBY'S ZOO FIELDTRIP

2009-05-14T11:03:00.000-07:00

Abby's preschool class took a field trip to the Minnesota Zoo. I went with as one of the chaperones. We had lots of fun walking around and seeing all the animals. It seemed as though the animals were there to entertain us. They seemed really happy and liked all the attention they got. It was a great field trip!

Abby & her friend, Alyseia riding on the bus....they both have their nails painted, which is a huge deal in preschool, I am told.

The gibbon.....he kept walking back and forth on the rope and then swinging real fast, it was cool to watch him.

The flamingos

Abby & Alyseia coming out of the cave

The tortoise

Abby feeding the baby goats

Abby & Alyseia in the cow barn....it was really stinky..PU!

The baby pigs....they were so cute

The baby chicks

Abby as a chicken

A sleeping leopard....the other leopard came right up to the glass and was putting his paws on it like he was giving us "5" or something....my pic didn't turn out though...

Abby & Alyseia walking back from the farm

Abby & Alyseia looking at the bear...this bear kept swimming back and forth with big stick, and was looking at all the people....it was fun to watch.

A dolphin

A seahorse....one of my favorites

The stingrays....Abby was touching these, and she thought that was pretty cool.

A ROBINS NEST

2009-05-14T10:41:00.000-07:00

The girls and I discovered this robin's nest with three eggs in it under our deck. We are so excited for them to hatch. I think the color of the eggs is so pretty. I will attempt to get a picture after they hatch, but I don't want to upset the mama bird.

BOWLING

2009-05-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

For Family Home Evening a few weeks back we decided to take the girls bowling. Abby loved every minute of it, Ally thought it was fun for about 30 seconds, and then thought running off and having us chase her was more entertaining, which I am sure was for everyone but US!! Abby did really good, she gets so excited and she even got a spare on her last frame. It was a really fun Family Night for us. We even brought Uncle Stephen with.

Ally & Abby

Mommy helping Ally bowl

Daddy & Ally

Abby bowling

Mommy bowling

Abby Mommy & Ally

Daddy bowling

Uncle Stephen bowling

Unlce Stephen & Abby

Abby getting her spare

EASTER

2009-05-07T11:06:00.000-07:00

Easter morning was lots of fun and excitement at our house. The girls loved finding their baskets and all the eggs that the Easter Bunny hid. Then we went to Church, and after that we went to Grandma & Papa's house for Easter dinner. The girls had lots of fun jumping on the trampoline, and trying out all their new stuff.

Ally finding her basket

Ally's Basket

Abby finding her basket

Abby's Basket

The girls with their new slip-n-slide

Ally & her eggs

Abby & her eggs

Their Easter Dresses

Ally Mommy & Abby

Grandma & the girls

Jumping on the tramp

EASTER BUNNY VISIT

2009-05-06T12:54:00.000-07:00

As we do every year we took the girls to get a picture with the Easter Bunny. This year we went to The Woods in Maple Grove again, although this year we had much better weather than last year. Everything was outside this year and the kids were able to see all the animals and walk around without being so crowded. Ally loved petting all the animals especially the little ducks. They had baby ducks, chicks, bunnies and lambs. They were all so very very cute. We had a lot of fun!! Abby even brought the Easter bunny some flowers (a few weeds she found in the yard), and told him her long list of wishes for Easter.

Daddy & Abby

That weed Curt is holding is the "flowers" Abby brought for the Easter Bunny

Mommy & Ally

Abby Petting the little bunny

Ally and the little ducklings

This one you can see the little bunny

Ally Petting the baby duck

Ally looking at the little lamb

Abby, Ally & Daddy looking at the baby lamb

One of the little lambs.....so cute!!

EASTER EGG HUNT

2009-05-01T12:50:00.000-07:00

Curt took the girls to the Annual Easter Egg Hunt at church. I told him to get some good pictures, and I think he did a great job. The girls has a great time making their "baskets" and finding some eggs. Then they enjoyed a cupcake and some juice...yum yum!! It was a really fun time for them.

Ally finding some eggs

Abby find some eggs

The "baskets" they each made

The girls with all their goodies

Enjoying a cupcake :D

EASTER COOKIES/DYEING EGGS

2009-05-01T11:10:00.000-07:00

The girls and I decided to do our make Easter cookies and dye our eggs both on the same day....

Ally only decorated one cookie and she ate it immediately after she finished...

So that left Abby and I to finish decorating the rest of our 3 dozen cookies

I was surprised that she stuck with it until the end, of course she was sampling the frosting the whole way through, but she didn't leave the counter until the last cookie was frosted. Daddy even came home early and surprised us....he didn't help decorate, but he tested the final product to make sure it was good enough for the Easter Bunny. My kids think that the Easter Bunny is a lot like Santa....they leave him cookies, and even tell him what they want when we go for our picture with the Easter Bunny.

Here are some of the finished cookies

We actually did our eggs first, but since they came up backwards on here, I didn't have the patience to rearrange them.....So here is dyeing our Easter Eggs.....
Those of you who know me know I am not a fan of big messy activities....we don't even carve our pumpkins at Halloween, because its too messy and the kids never ask to. This is the first year we have actually done eggs at my house, we usually have family in town and I save this job for them at Grandma's house. But since no one came to visit this year it was all up to me.

The kids didn't really get to do much but I think they liked watching me do it....he he he!!

I did let them each take a turn to check their eggs....

and then of course they got to do the stickers and shrinky-dinks.

Some of our finished eggs!

SILLY ALLY

2009-05-01T11:04:00.000-07:00

Ally came upstairs the other day with her doll's clothes on her....I seriously do not know how she got them on...I had a tough time getting them off of her...but enjoyed the laugh :D

VISITORS FROM KC & UT

2009-04-14T05:39:00.000-07:00

For Spring Break we were so lucky to have Jolynn, Taylor, Beckham & Tippy come and visit us. We all had so much fun while they were here, Abby & Ally love playing with their cousins. Here are a few pics from their visit.

Ally, Taylor Abby & Beckham all snuggled up in bed

Taylor & Abby singing "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam"

All the kids baking coookies with Aunt Tippy

Taylor, Abby & Beckham with his crazy wig

Taylor & Abby

Jolynn, Tippy, Jen & Jackie

Beckham & Ally (a.k.a double trouble)

Abby & Taylor-they were pretty much inseperable

Jolynn, Tippy & Jackie

Aunt Tippy & Abby

Abby & Ally thought Aunt Jolynn was so cool....she let them play in the giant swimming pool, also known as Grandma's back yard in the spring.....I thought she was pretty cool too, she took care of all the clean up including the laundry from this event.

Going on a walk

Jolynn, Tippy, Mom & Me playing "clue", our new favorite game......although you cannot leave the table or lots of cheating will occur.....I won't mention any names, Jolynn.

Beckham, Taylor & Abby singing a song for us.

Papa, Taylor, Curt & Stephen

Jen, Jackie & Jolynn

Jackie & Jolynn

On St. Patrick's Day we went to a little playgroup, the girls had lots of fun playing and snakcing on graham crackers with frosting and green sprinkles.

Playing dress up

Saying Good-bye...we will miss you guys!!!

OUR NEWEST COUSIN

2009-04-06T11:19:00.000-07:00

The girls were very excited to welcome their very first cousin on the Rekstad side of the family. Kari Marie was born on March 8, 2009. She is so very very cute, the girls had a blast going to meet her. They were fighting over who got to hold her first, I think Abby won that one. Congratulations Derek & Kirsten!!! We are very excited to see the girls all grow up together!

ALLY'S GYMNASTICS

2009-03-27T11:53:00.000-07:00

Ally LOVES gymnastics, I mean "nastics" as she calls it. She begs to go there everyday, and she actually listens pretty well for being two. Her favorite thing is the bar, she could hang on that all day.

Warming up

The bar, her favorite, she is like a monkey on this thing

The beam, no thats not how she is suppose to do it, she is posing for the camera

Her forward roll, she does this all over the house

BOWLING

2009-03-27T11:33:00.000-07:00

I took Abby bowling for the first time with some of the girls in our neighborhood. She really had a great time, and she did really well. This is something we will do again, she really enjoyed herself.

Abby watching her ball, she was pretty good once she figured out the whole idea.

Tori, Madison & Abby

Abby & Emma enjoying some cheese bread

ABBY'S DANCE RECITAL

2009-03-27T11:01:00.000-07:00

Abby loves to dance,and she especially loves her recitals. She loves to dress up and have her hair done. She really is a girly girl.

Dancing while she waits to go

Ally & Mommy watching Abby

Abby, Madison & Ella

She wanted her hair done like the big girls.

HELPING DADDY SHOVEL

2009-03-27T09:59:00.001-07:00

The girls love to go out and help Daddy shovel whenever it snows. They each get a little shovel and have a great time playing in the snow.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2009-01-03T10:27:00.000-08:00

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, we certainly did.

CHRISTMAS EVE W/ THE GOURLEYS

Jackie & Curt

Mommy & Ally

Abby & Tippy

Playing Phase 10- a Gourley family tradition

Abby, Tippy & Jackie

Tippy & Papa

Aunt Tippy with her snowman Uncle Stephen made her

Abby with her new personalized backpack

The cookies and milk for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer

The girls waiting for Daddy to bring down their hot chocolate.....

I think they were a little excited!

CHRISTMAS MORNING

We had to wake Ally up...she was sleeping too late for Abby

The girls checking out their stockings

Abby of course got exactly what she asked for.....

Barbie & the Diamond Castle

I think we made her nervous the night before....we told her we were going to see if she had been good in the morning, and with a not so sure look on her face, she quickly informed us that Ally was the naughty one cuz she scratches............in the morning when she saw all the presents she said "I told you we were good mom!"

Ally with all her gifts from Santa....

she too was lucky enough to get what she asked for even though she scratches;)

Ally checking to see if Santa has drank all his milk....he did leave a few crumbs on the plate. Notice this year Ally is careful not to touch.....last year she tried to drink the left over milk, and Abby was very concerned she would get Santa germs....he he he!

Abby showing us the note that Santa had left for her and Ally

Our family opening up gifts

Our tradition....caramel & cinnamon rolls for breakfast...Yum!

Aunt Tippy, Jackie & Julie

Ally, Grandma & Abby....

the girls were already playing dress up when Grandma & Papa came to see what Santa had brought.

CHRISTMAS DAY W/ THE REKSTADS

Uncle Ricky & Ally

Abby opening her coconut from Uncle Ricky......

she wasn't too excited about it!

Ally thought it was pretty great, although she wasn't the one who opened it.

Ally with her new Sleeping Beauty barbie

Abby with her load of presents

Abby in her High School Musical dress, she loved the wig!

Grandma Sandi.......Derek & Kirsten are expecting in March!

Kirsten, Ally & Abby

The Whole Clan

Uncle"D", Kirsten, Grandma Sandi, Ally, Uncle Ricky, Curt, Abby & Jackie

HE KNOWS IF YOU'VE BEEN BAD OR GOOD.....

2008-12-13T12:56:00.001-08:00

Abby & Ally on Santa

Abby & Ally with the baby reindeer

Ally & Emma

(we even ran into our neighbors there)

Ally decorating her cookies

Abby decorating her cookies

This year we decided to skip the mall and go to visit Santa in downtown Elk River.....They had a small petting zoo, cookie decorating, hot chocolate & apple cider, and of course Santa Claus. It was alot of fun and the weather was perfect. Ally even sat on Santa's lap, which was a big improvement from last year. She didn't talk but Daddy helped her tell Santa what she wanted. Abby of course told him everything she wants. And the best part is it was FREE!

..................SO BE GOOD FOR GOODNESS SAKE!

ABBY'S CHRISTMAS PROGRAM

2008-12-13T12:37:00.000-08:00

She was so excited to wear her new Christmas Dress

The Whole Class

Mrs. Lisa, Abby & Mrs. Amy

Abby, Daddy & Ally with the gift she made for us:)

Abby had her Christmas program at preschool. She did a great job and it was fun to hear all the songs they sing at school.

TRIMMING THE TREE

2008-12-04T08:35:00.000-08:00

Ally putting all the bulbs on one branch

Abby

Abby putting on the star

Yea we are all done!

Christmas tree brownies for dessert

On Monday night at Abby's request for FHE we decided to put up our Christmas Tree. She has been seeing other houses decorated and kept asking when we were going to decorate. I love that she is starting to remember from year to year some of the things we always do as a family. We usually do it the Friday after thanksgiving, but since we were at the cabin we didn't have a chance to. So we got out all the boxes from the basement and started decorating. Ally loved putting the bulbs on and she always put them all on the same branch....I think I have pics of Abby doing the same thing at this age. Abby has finally realized that you decorate the whole tree and not just the bottom. After wards we had Christmas Tree brownies for dessert. I love this time of year (minus the cold), but I love all the yummy food and the spirit that surrounds this holiday. Now I can start my shopping....I am so jealous of those of you who are finished already...you make me sick!

THANKSGIVING AT THE CABIN

2008-12-04T08:21:00.000-08:00

Ally & Papa

Ally & Grandma

Abby helping make the fruit salad

Ally helping make the fruit salad

Abby & her olive fingers

Ally & her olive fingers.....all she ate was olives & marsh-pillows (marshmallows)

Abby and the baby Abby

Ally's favorite thing to do was block the hallway and say

"can't go through"

This year for Thanksgiving we went with my parents up to the cabin for 5 days. It was so fun to just relax and do nothing, except watch kids. Which if you ask my Dad all we did was watch them make messes:) Which we did eventually clean up, right after we (my mom & I) finished our game of cards. Just ask my Mom how much cheating she got away with?? We really had a great time hanging out with family. My uncle lives up there so we got to see him and some of his kids too. One of which just had a brand new baby named Abigail, which my Abby insisted on holding the entire time. She is really cute, congratulations Jessica.

PLAYING IN THE LEAVES

2008-12-04T07:19:00.000-08:00

The girls always have a fun time playing in the leaves every fall. However this year we had such a busy October that we never really got around to raking up the leaves...which doesn't really matter because they all just blew away this year and we don't get a whole lot anyway. But I still wanted our yearly pictures for the scrapbook, so one day after the dusting of snow melted we went over to Grandmas and auntie Jen raked up a big pile for me to throw the girls into for the much needed pictures. Ally didn't mind at all, but Abby was sure her mother was crazy for making her pose in a bunch of cold wet dirty leaves.

Thanks auntie Jen we love you!

DAYTONA BEACH

2008-11-14T13:40:00.001-08:00

We had the opportunity to take the girls to Daytona Beach for a few days. They both loved the waves and the beach. Ally was a little hesitant at first, but then you couldn't keep her out of it. Abby was off and running as soon as she saw the water. Our hotel was right on the beach so each morning we got up, put on our suits and went down to the beach. The girls had fun looking for seashells, and I was just happy to be somewhere warm! The hotel had a pool too, so when it got dark we would just pack up and swim in there. Literally I don't even know why we packed clothes.....we were always wearing our suits.

HALLOWEEN

2008-10-31T19:58:00.001-07:00

Here are all of our Halloween Festivities this year:

First we went with Grandma to her ward's Fall Festival at church. It was a lot of fun. They had tons of games for the kids to play, Abby's favorite was the cupcake walk, I think we brought home at least a dozen cupcakes. The kids came home with their buckets over flowing with candy. We could have stopped there, but why when there are more opportunities to over indulge in sugar:)

Ally-the wicked witch

Abby-Dorothy

Abby playing the duck pond game

Ally pinning the mouth on the mummy

Ally trunk-or-treating with Auntie Jen

JoDell you did a great job on the party, Abby still talks about how much fun she had there!

Next we went to a Halloween party for our ward at church. They had a few games to play and then of course more trunk-or-treating. The kids came home with more candy in their buckets:)

Abby & her friend, Bryndie

Ally-the wicked witch

Then we decided to decorate a Haunted Cookie Mansion. They kids had lots of fun putting this together and sticking all the decorations on. It was a lot less mess than cookies:)

Abby, Ally, Grandma, Gabe, Francis, Elijah & Me

Elijah kept wanting to eat the frosting, so when we were all done my mom just squeezed it all in his mouth. He loved it, I was getting a stomache ache just watching.

The finished product

This is Abby & Ally in their shirts from Auntie Julie. Abby had a party at school and got her face painted and of course, more candy! Thanks Aunt Julie....we can't wait to see you in a fe weeks:)

And Finally there was trick-or-treating, we invited grandma, the boys I nanny and their mom over for pizza beforehand. We all had a wonderful time. Suzanne was our make-up artist, and this time we really turned Ally into the wicked witch, green face and all. The kids had a ton of fun going out and getting candy, and Abby of course would have kept going all night if I would have let her. She really loves trick-or-treating. Ally on the other hand kept wanting to go back to her house and eat her candy:) Do you blame her?

Our jack-o-latern pizza from Papa Murphys

Benny-flying monkey, Suzanne-Zombie-mom, Gabe-Rapper-mummy, Francis-soldier, Elijah-???? Sorry I can't remember what he called himself.

Suzanne applying Ally's make-up. It was more like a wrestling match trying to get her to hold still.

Ally-the wicked witch, and Abby-Dorothy

Elijah, Gabe & Abby

Ally, pulling the wagon.....hopefully she doesn't come home with the wagon full:)

Ally & Our neighbor, Angela

Abby & Ally trick-or-treating

Abby & Grandma

Grandma took Abby around the whole neighborhood, and Abby still wan't ready to quit. she filled her bucket up like 3 times. I brought Ally home after just our street, she was ready to start eating.

Abby & Daddy

Daddy stayed home to pass out the candy, but then joined Abby & Grandma to finish up the neighborhood. Daddy carried Dorothy when her legs got tired following the yellow brick road. For some reason though this Dorothy just wanted more candy, she didn't care about finding her way back home;)

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween, I know we certainly did. The weather was perfect, and we got enough candy to last all year!

PUMPKIN PATCH

2008-10-20T11:50:00.000-07:00

On Friday night we took the girls to "Berry Hill Farm" to pick out pumpkins. Smiles were hard to come by for Allison, she was not a happy camper, until the end when the guy with the pumpkin head made her laugh. Abby had fun trying to pick out a pumpkin, and after much deliberation she picked one that could be mistaken for an orange. The girls enjoyed seeing the animals, and for Allison the best part was pulling her own wagon, the one she picked, not the one Daddy got for her. She decided that she just wanted popcorn, and "no dumpkin!" So Daddy picked one for us, and Abby got her "orange" (good thing we don't actually carve the pumpkins) and we were on our way home.

Ally & Daddy looking at the sheep...I think.

Daddy, Abby & the sheep.

Ally pulling her wagon, of which no pumpkins were allowed to go in.

Abby & her friend, Emma

Mommy, Ally & Abby picking out a pumpkin

Abby & her orange......I mean pumpkin:)

Abby & Ally...I think I see a half a smile!

Finally a smile....and its time to go home!

WISCONSIN DELLS

2008-10-20T11:08:00.000-07:00

We finally took the girls to the much anticapated "Wisconsin Dells". We stayed at The Great Wolf Lodge, and the kids had a blast. They had 4 different water parks to play at and this place called "Wiley's Woods", which is a giant play area filled with balls that you load up on and then go up and shoot them at everyone else. I am not sure who had more fun the adults or the kids. Abby & Ally liked to climb in the giant pots of balls and hide. We all had a great time swimming and just hanging out and relaxing.

MOVIE IN THE PARK

2008-10-20T10:41:00.000-07:00

Every Saturday night in September & October our city has "movie in the park". I took the girls to a couple of them, and they love it. They project it on this giant inflatable screen, and they even hand out popcorn:) The best part is that it is all free!!!! This particular time we saw Open Season, which I don't think they paid much attention too, but it was fun for them to be all bundled up in blankets and watching a movie outside.

APPLE ORCHARD

2008-10-06T11:34:00.000-07:00

Abby's class took a field trip to Deer Lake Apple Orchard. The kids had tons of fun, I was responsible for three of them, boy was that work. We got to see how the apples were picked and sorted, then we saw how they were cleaned and packaged. We also took a tractor-wagon ride through the spooky forest, not very spooking during the day, and there was a petting zoo, crate-maze, and hay to jump in. The kids were all disappointed they didn't get to eat any apples, but apparently that was what was for snack the next day in class:)

Alyseia, Abby & Jayden

Apple cleaning & sorting

Alyseia, Jayden, Abby & Rachel on the wagon ride

The crate-maze

Hay jumping!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABBY!!

2008-09-25T10:13:00.001-07:00

Abby turned 5 on September 24. She had a Barbie party with her friends.

We decorated crowns, played "Barbie" Bingo, broke open a pinata, and of course there was presents and cake.

Abby with her Barbie cake

All the girls with their crowns they decorated.

"Barbie" Bingo....

We used starbursts to mark the spaces, I think the kids were more excited to eat those than get bingo. I also made the bingo cards myself. I didn't realize how long it would actually take to make 12 different bingo cards.....just ask Curt, I think he felt like a single dad for about a week.

PINATA

The girls collecting candy from the pinata

PRESENTS

Lots and lots of Barbies, and a new Barbie scooter

CAKE

Blowing out her candles!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLY!!

2008-09-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

Ally turned 2 on September 22.

She had an Ariel birthday party.

She gots lots of wonderful presents.

With a little help from Papa she was able to blow out both of her candles:)

GYMNASTICS

2008-09-10T08:29:00.000-07:00

Ally had her first gymnastics class, she loves it!! She was so excited that for once Abby had to sit and watch and she got to go do something. She was all smiles. She learned how to bear walk, forward roll and to make a table top which she was very proud of herself and kept saying look at me, mom. She is the youngest in her class, but I think she listens better than any of the other kids. I was surprised, a few weeks ago I told Curt I wasn't going to sign her up, cuz I didn't think she was ready. She is very strong willed and challenges almost everything I tell her to do, like most kids I guess. So I thought I wouldn't torture myself, but Curt didn't think that was fair because Abby signed up at two years old, so Ally should too. So the deal was we would do a night class and he would take her.....so far he had to stay late at work the first night and this week he is out of town. I guess my plan has failed already. Lucky for me, and her she cooperates. I also might add that Ally is officially POTTY TRAINED. I was putting a pull up on her at night, but since the last package ran out and I refuse to buy more we have only had 1 accident:) YEAH ALLY!!!!!

Abby was our photographer, we had about 50 pics like this:)

PRESCHOOL

2008-09-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

Abby is finally back in preschool, she loves summer but she loves preschool more, and she couldn't wait to start again. She is going three days a week in the morning, and she always has so much fun there. She loves her teachers Mrs. Lisa and Mrs. Amy and she has already made lots of new friends. Everyday when I drop her off Ally says "I wanna go to peaskool, Mom" I wish I could leave her too, unfortunately she has to wait until next year at the earliest. I wish I could say that I enjoy the break from Abby, but it justs means I have to entertain Ally that much more. I never realized what a blessing having two is. She was so excited to wear this dress, it was her cousin Taylor's and she passed it down to Ally, and lucky for her she can still fit in it. She doesn't quite understand why I won't let her wear it everyday????

"All done, when do I get to come back?"

KANSAS

2008-09-08T10:47:00.000-07:00

Over the Labor day weekend we took a trip down to Kansas to visit the Sarles family. Abby had been waiting for this trip all summer and was so excited to go. She got up at 4:30 am and didn't fall asleep at all on the 8 hour drive there. The girls had so much fun playing with their cousins, and it was fun for us to catch up with Jolynn & Sean and hang out with them.

Abby & Taylor were pretty much inseperable. One night Taylor fell asleep watching a movie, and Abby our little night owl was still up at 10 pm so we took her down to bed with us. Taylor woke up at 2 am and Jolynn found her on her way down to find Abby because she didn't want to miss a night of sleeping with Abby.

THE FARM

They have this great free petting farm there. It was super hot out that day, and all the days we were there, but we had tons of fun anyways.

Beckham, Taylor & Abby

Beckham, Abby & Taylor

Ally

Beckham, Ally, Taylor & Abby (the drama queem)

She thinks the bench is too hot, but nobody else seems bothered by it????

Ally finally got brave enough to feed the animals.

A COW TO MILK

Abby

Ally

BABY GOATS

They had baby goats and for $1 you could buy a bottle of milk to feed it. It was kinda of funny to watch all the goats try to get the bottle. Abby was kind of a chicken and was pinned up against the fence by a buch of goats trying to get her bottle. She did finally manage to fend them all off and find one to feed her bottle to.

Ally feeding the baby goats.

Abby trying to fend off all the hungry little baby goats.

Taylor & Abby feeding the baby goats

Finally a nice little goat for her to feed

TRACTORS TO RIDE

Ally

Abby

There was tons of other stuff to do there too but we were so hot we decided to hit Sonic and go home.

THE TRAIN RESTAURANT

They had this great train restaurant in the mall there. Everyone got lil' engineer hats to wear....

Abby, Taylor & Jolynn

Ally & Beckham

Then they had a phone at your table and you would call in your order......

Abby placing her order

and then a train would deliver the food to your table.

The kids thought this was really great, and so did the adults (cuz it kept the kids entertained while we were waiting for our food)

Be sure to watch the video of the train delivering our food:)

Ally Jackie Beckham Abby & Taylor

All the kids (this was the best shot we could get of the 4 of them)

Then we took a drive up to see the RLDS temple and the visitors center for our church.

The RLDS temple

Beckham, Taylor, Ally & Abby

The Savior was supposed to be in the background, but I think I had Curt take the picture, while Jolynn & I tried to pose all the kids. There is always one that has to be a pickle:)

Our family

Ally & Abby driving the covered wagon

Taylor & Beckham driving the covered wagon

The visitors center was really great and very kid friendly. They had lots of things for them to play with and to see what life was like for those children crossing the plains.

We also went to a great BBQ restaurant called Oklahoma Joes, but I forgot to get out the camera:(

Then we headed back in the van and drove home, and lucky for me Abby did fall asleep for a little while on the way home. We also saw this semi full of the little pigs and the girls liked looking at them. However the semi was driving so fast Curt had to go 90 mph just to catch up so I could get a picture.

The little piggies

THANKS Jolynn & Sean for a great visit, we really had a good time:)

BEACH BUMS

2008-09-05T11:57:00.001-07:00

My kids love going to the beach and since this summer has been so hot we have done that a lot. Abby is getting braver in the water, and has even put her face in which she is very proud of. But one thing they love to do at the beach is bury themselves in the sand. Escpecially Gabe and Abby, Ally doesn't really hold still long enough and Elijah prefers to be the one burying the kids.

ABBY

ALLY

GABE

ABBY

NICKELODEON UNIVERSE

2008-09-05T11:41:00.000-07:00

I took Abby, Stephen, Gabe & Elijah to Nickelodeon Universe for the day. They had tons of fun going on all the rides. Abby even went on the the log chute, although she told me when she was done that she wasn't going to go on that again until she was 6.

Abby on the mini bumper cars

Abby on the Wonder Pets, High Flyer

Stephen & Gabe on the Sphlat-o-Sphere

All of them on Mini Coaster

Gabe driving the bumper cars

ALLY'S FIRST PEDICURE

2008-09-05T11:28:00.000-07:00

So everytime I paint Abby's and my toes I make sure that Ally is napping and doesn't see, however one Sunday I tried to sneek and do mine before church quick, and I got caught. I ended up having to do all of ours. Ally was so proud of her little piggies, she showed them to everyone. Sorry about the pics, but Abby was our photographer for the event.

All done!

SAILING

2008-08-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

The Boat

Amy, Dana & Amy, Cory & Josh, Curt & Me, & Cort

Amy, Amy, Cory & Me

A few weeks back we had the opportunity to go sailing with our good friends, the Oelkers. We had never been sailing, so we weren't quite sure what to expect, but it was so much fun and so relaxing. The weather was absolutely perfect, we even jumped in to cool off for a bit. The sail boat was gigantic, and at first I wasn't sure we were all going to fit, but once we realized you just sit on the top of it, there was plenty of room for all. The boat was built by a friend of theirs' father, and you could have lived on it. It had a downstairs with a kitchen and a bathroom. It was so cool. We had sort of a picnic supper, and you had to be sure to hang on to your stuff or you would lose it to the water. I was even brave enough to go out in front of the mast for a few pics, although it wasn't funny when the wind picked up a bit and I thought I was going to fall in. I also thought it was funny that when the wind changed directions the sails would switch sides and you had to be sure and duck or you would end up in the water. Luckily that didn't happen to any of us. So Thank You to the Oelkers for inviting us, and Happy Birthday to Amy!!! We had a blast!!