Little Laughs

In the car the other day Lily told us, "Amara is magic because sometimes she touches toys and they disappear!" I concur.

Amara's favorite word is NO! She loves to use that word to assert her control.

Steve: "Do you want a piece of cake?"

Amara: "NO! ...Okay, yeah."

DINOSAURS!

The days leading up to the 4th of July, our famly traveled to the land of Dinosaurs for a Christensen family campout (Steve's family). That's Vernal, Utah, for those wondering. We had a lot of fun visiting, picnicking, swimming, hiking, and camping. I didn't think to take pictures as much as I should have, but I did remember to bring our camera on our hike at Dinosaur National Monument. So, here's some photos from the hike.

Cool rock formation above.

Lily and her cousins played with some toy dinosaurs while the park ranger gave us interesting information about the fossils and formations that we were hiking amongst. Below is a picture I took of a dino bone embedded in the mountainside. I think the ranger said that it was an arm bone of a very large teenage dinosaur.

It's fun being around cousins.

How young is too young?

Well, my mom didn't allow me to start wearing makeup until 9th grade. I was mostly okay with that. Then, when the time came that I could wear makeup, my mom had a MaryKay lady come over and teach me how to wear makeup. Well, Lily and I needed something to do one day, but we couldn't leave the house because Amara was napping, so we did virtual makeovers on the MaryKay website. I let her pick all her makeup and her hair. Here's her stunning before and after. Unfortunately, I can't find my before and after photos.

Curse the Mosquitos!

Really, what are mosquitos good for? Anything? Poor Lily got her legs eaten alive by an army of monster mosquitos when we went to look at our land the other night. Curse those bloodsucking annoyances and the misery they spread! It seems this year has been particularly fertile for the breeding of mosquitos. Maybe it's because of the wet season we've had or something, but I've noticed that mosquitos are strong and plentiful this year. Stock up on your repellants early- they're out to attack! And, it's a good idea to purchase some good anti-itch sprays and creams while you're at it. My little Lily was scratching her bites so hard in church that they started to bleed and she started to cry. Once again, curse those mosquitos!

Recitations and Joyful Tunes...

A couple weeks ago, Stephen and I started reciting an Article of Faith each night before the girls went to bed. It's amazing to me how quickly our children learn. Lily can now recite the first and second Articles of Faith. Amara is even picking up on it a bit. Her version is "We believe... Eternal Father... and Holy Ghost! Here's a video of Lily reciting what she knows.

Amara has become quite the singer. Our nursery at church takes the children into the primary room for a 10 minute singing time in between the senior and junior primaries. Today, when we went to church, she ran straight into the primary room instead of the nursery. I told her that we had to go to nursery first, and she said, "No! Me want ta sing!" So, I picked her up and carried her towards the nursery and tried to explain to her that they would go to sing pretty soon, but she had to go play with toys first. She cried and cried. She just wanted to sing. Here is her version of "I love to see the temple."

See-a temp-o,

Goin' someday,

Fee-holy pow-it,

Liss-n ad obey-ey,

Fo a temp-o hows a god,

A pace lud an boo-tee,

Pen my-sewf,

My-ay-yun,

Dis is sayk-kid duty-ee!

How firm our FOUNDATION!

That's right, folks! Our foundation to our home is underway. It was very exciting to come back to Roosevelt after 2 1/2 weeks in Utah Valley and find that some progress had been made on our home.

Below is a view from the back corner of our home.
The photo below was taken from the back of our lot. You'll probably have to click on it to make out any detail.
Below is the view we have of the mountains and green field from our backyard.

Lily's birthday at Chuck E. Cheese...

Mandy posted some darling photos on her blog of Lily's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. Thanks Mandy for taking pictures! I had forgotten my camera, so I'm glad you got some really good shots. Below are a few of the pics. See mmandj.blogspot.com for more of the pictures.

Chuck E. Cheese came around once for hugs and high 5s; however, April, my sister, said she saw him a lot. Everytime she turned around he was there. I think he was following her. I only saw him once.

Lily really loved the clock ride, you can tell by the big smile on her face.

Amara was really "driving" the car ride as fast as she could; it was as if she was competing against her cousin, Jaxon, to see who could steer faster.

Thanks to all who came to the party, and thank you again for the fun gifts and almost 600 well-earned tickets. Lily is so loved.