Family Pictures 2011

I finally got these to upload!

A few weeks ago our good friend Angela (owner of IvoryLime Photography) met up with us and did some family pictures for us. We had a lot of fun, and it helped that the girls were familiar with the photographer! Here are some of our favorites! Emmalyn is in the pink outfit, Brooklyn is in the orange outfit.

Two 2yo's

I know I'm a couple weeks late on this, but better late than never!!

Emmalyn and Brooklyn have turned 2. I can't believe it's already been two years since these angels joined our family. It has been a wonderful learning experience and they have taught me so much! This year was still kind of uneventful, the girls didn't really get it, which was quite obvious when walked into their room the morning of their birthday singing to them and they just looked at us like we were crazy! But we still had fun! This is what the girls came downstairs to.

Here are a few pictures from their party.

Enjoying some hamburgers and hot dogs!

Opening presents!

Brooklyn showing off her new dress!

 

Emmalyn mutilating...I mean opening...a card.

 

Emmalyn playing peekaboo with a gift bag

 

A Broom!

MELMO!!

Cake time!! I forgot to take a picture of the cake, but oh well. Brooklyn freaked out while the candle was lit, but once we blew it out and she realized it was cake she was fine!

Nothing ends a party like BUBBLES!! The girls love bubbles and they know right where Grandma keeps them in her garage. So of course we had to bring them out and indulge the girls.

Emmalyn chasing the bubbles

 

Brooklyn blowing her own bubbles, she's actually quite good at it!

Although the girls are identical in the genetic/medical world, they are total opposites in personality, temperament, expression, etc.

Emmalyn is spunky and bossy! She extremely expressive and very talkative. She likes to think she's queen bee around here (and everywhere) and never hesitates to tell you what you're suppose to do or not do. She is very sweet, loving, and friendly to pretty much anyone she sees.

Brooklyn is our strong, silent type of girl. She loves to play "rough" and pounce/lay on her sister all the time. She's very curious about everything and is very good at taking things apart (she took a pen apart that she was drawing with and by the time we caught her is was in about 5 pieces). She loves to help us do anything that we'll let her help with, and is always quick to give cuddles.

Both girls love animals and being outside, especially if water is involved (unless it's rain or snow). The love to go to the park to swing and go down slides.

Happy Birthday Emmalyn and Brooklyn, we love you so much!!

Summer Fun!

It's been quite awhile since I've blogged, but we've been having a lot of fun this summer...now that it's finally warm! At the beginning of June we got together with Jeff's family for a reunion in Richfield, UT. I kept forgetting to pull out my camera, so I only have the one picture of the girls on a wagon with some of their cousins at Cove Fort. We had a great time seeing everyone and catching up.

We have a zoo pass again this year and we've made frequent trips up there already. The girls LOVE the animals and we love going up there with friends. We usually pack a lunch and go enjoy a few hours up there. Here are the girls on the carousel. Brooklyn prefers to sit on the bench seats, but Emmalyn loves the ones that go up and down.


Another nice thing about the zoo is that it wears the girls out and they generally end up falling asleep on the way home, so when we get home I usually just let them sleep on the couch.


Some of our good friends have a pass to "This is the Place" monument park. We went up there with them one day and had fun riding the trains, looking at the animals, and running around. There's a part of the park that has a petting zoo. The girls paid little attention to the animals and were more intrigued by the water that was running through the place. They love water!

One July 4th we went to our friends' house for a hot dog roast! They were puppy sitting for a little while and the girls LOVED the puppy. Here's the only picture I could catch with them all running around and having a blast!


One evening the girls were begging to go slide and swing, so we took them to a park nearby our house and let them play for a little while. They love being outside, playing, and running around. They are crazy girls, but oh so fun. Here are some pictures from the park. Emmalyn is in the pink, Brooklyn is in the purple.








As I mentioned before the girls LOVE playing in water, so we got them a little wading pool to go on our back patio. They love it and are now always wanting to go out to play in the water! Emmalyn - pink, Brooklyn - blue.

Planting Flowers

Yesterday (7/9/11) the girls and I went over to their grandma's house to help her run a few errands and plant some flowers. The girls were all too happy to "help" with the watering part of it. Here are a few pictures that I got. Emmalyn is in the pink shirt, Brooklyn in the orange shirt.

Putting more water in Grandma's bucket

Filling up the buckets with water

Needless to say both girls got rather wet, but they kept up with it for a good hour or more. They love being outside and running around.

Wheeler Farm

Last weekend we had some really pretty days, but we hadn't gotten our new passes to the zoo, so I took the girls to Wheeler Farm. It's a family farm here in the middle of the city and people can just go and see the animals, have picnics, etc and it's all free. There are hay rides and classes/workshops but those you have to pay for. Anyway, I love going in the Spring because that's when all the new baby animals are there. I guess it's still a little early in the Spring for too many, but there were a few and I'm gonna be sure to go back because we saw a few VERY pregnant momma animals there.

Emmalyn loved the animals and being able to go right up to their cages and see them, which is unusual for her...she usually shies away/gets scared of them. Not this time though!

Pointing at one of the goats

Looking at one of the adorable lambs!

Brooklyn, on the other hand, preferred to stay in the stroller. Not necessarily because she was afraid of the animals, but more because she LOVES our "new" stroller. I found a Sit'N'Stand stroller on KSL for $50 and Brooklyn would probably sleep in it if I let her, okay that's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point. She knows that we keep the stroller in the back of the van, and EVERY time we go anywhere she goes straight to the back of the van, pounds on the back door of the van and asks to get the "oller" out. She'll even throw a fit when we tell her not this time. So here's where she spent the time at Wheeler Farm...

...until we got to the duck/geese pond. A lady gave us a loaf of bread and the girls thought it was awesome to throw the bread and watch the ducks come and eat it.

Easter 2011 - Caliente, NV

As mentioned in the last post, I took the girls down to Caliente the few days before Easter. Thanks to some good friends Jeff was able to join us late Friday night, just in time for all the fun Easter festivisties! They started out Saturday morning with egg coloring. Cory, Melissa, and their boys came over to join us. This is the first year the girls were really able to participate. They were a little leary about it at first, but after they realized what we were doing they had a lot of fun.

Emmalyn's first egg

Brooklyn's first egg

Emmalyn has this thing were she likes to "hide" things and ask where it went. Well putting the eggs in the darker colors was no exception! Whenever we'd put an egg in color she'd put her hands up an say "Go?!" Jeff was able to get this cute picture of her doing that.

Next was the Easter Egg Hunt, put on by the Caliente Rotary Club. They section off the park and put the kids in age groups. Once again the girls didn't really seem to care what was going on at first, but once they realized that they could run out and pick up the eggs they were hard to slow down.

Emmalyn



Brooklyn



Of course, I let the Easter Bunny know we were gonna be in Caliente, so the girls were able to get some goodies in their baskets!

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa Smith

The week before Easter was my mom's spring break, so the girls and I went down for the last half of the week. The girls did fairly well on the trip and we had a wonderful visit with my parents, my brother Cory, his wife Melissa, and their 3 boys. The girls LOVED having some boys to rough and tumble with and spent as much time as I would let them outside. Anytime Grandpa was home they were his little shadows, and they loved to snuggle with Grandma and go for walks.

On the way down we made a pit stop at my sister Marie's house. Her kids were all too willing to play with the girls and let them get their wiggles out after being in the car for a few hours! Santa was very nice to them this past Christmas and got them a trampoline, and the girls decided to give it a try. At first Emmalyn was a little scared and overwhelmed (of course it didn't help that there were a lot of bigger kids on there with her) but I put her on again when there was only one or two other kids on it and she LOVED it. She would get so excited that instead of bouncing she would just wave arms like she was trying to fly, it was so cute! Here are a couple of pictures...

Of course trampolines make AWESOME hair-dos.

Brooklyn with her cousin Veronica.

After a couple hours of playing with their cousins in Cedar City we headed to Caliente. Here are some pictures from our adventures there.

Singing on the swing set.

Brooklyn found Grandma's lipstick in her purse...beautiful!

Grandpa's little helpers!

Walking up by the Depot

Grandpa took them for a ride in his Rhino, they LOVED it and didn't want to get out!

My parents don't have a dishwasher so doing dishes the "old fashion" way was a favorite with the girls. They always wanted to help whoever was doing the dishes.

Thanks again Mom and Dad for little us come and stay with you for those few days and for letting the girls tear apart your house! :)