LOVE

Weekend Kitten

2011-08-25T15:33:00.000-07:00

Andrey and I were outside after a big storm when we heard meows. We found an injured and sick runt kitten. We instantly fell in love and had to care for it until monday, when animal control could get to her. She was such a patient and sweet kitty, while we bathed her, cleaned out her infections, tried to force feed her, and care for her. The girls loved her and it was hard for them to see her go on Monday, but they were glad that the "doctors" were coming to care for her. This was a good experience for the girls to get a taste of what a pet would be like, and a taste for me to decide that we are not yet ready for one. But she sure was a sweet little thing.

Emma's Fundraiser

2011-08-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

Friends and family:
Emma is selling the Entertainment book for her school fundraiser. It is for the 2012 year. She is so excited (to win a prize for selling them) so let us know, after looking over your budgets, if you are intersted. She will be selling them through Sept. 8, 2011 so give us a call or e-mail, or shoot a message on over. It is only $25 and has a lot of great coupons inside: your favorite restaraunt, golfing, water parks, etc. We have loved having one this year and have saved so much by using it. Let us know. Thank you!!!

Ethan's little Personality-6 months old

2011-08-14T12:06:00.000-07:00

Ethan love his big sisters. They have so much fun with him and they can get him laughing harder than anyone else.After church today Ellie started making noises and he thought it was the funniest thing (video to come). We love seeing his little personality coming out as he is getting older. He communicates more, is very observant, and loved giving (wet) kisses.

2011 Garden

2011-08-11T15:35:00.000-07:00

We were told by our Stake President this year to make sure everyone plants a garden. Even if you llive in an apartment, plant something in a box. He didn't care. His challenge for us was to make sure we had something.

We took this seriously and after getting our food storage caught up, we went full out on a garden. Our backyard is on almost a half an acre, so we tilled the ground and picked anything and everything to plant.

It was a lot of fun for Emma and Ellie this year since they are older and could help out more, so they are very proud to see what we have grown.

It is a treat for them to pick everything and to water. Today Emma and I went a harvesting and this is what we found:

New crib for Ethan

2011-08-04T23:01:00.001-07:00

I have been spoiled and have been spoiling Ethan by letting him sleep in bed with me. I am a light sleeper, so rolling on him is not a concern for me. I don't want to have him in my bed till he is 25, so we decided it was time for a crib.

I am always worried about losing a child by malfunctioning of a crib, so we bought a brand new one. Andrey got such a great deal on it because it was the display crib at the store and there was a small scratch on it. It was such a good price, we couldn't pass it up.

I was excited because that meant my bedroom was going to be re-arranged (until my real room is finished), so we got to work and I just love the crib. Ethan seems to love it and we will see how he does tonight not being next to mom. Crossies!

Preschool with Ellie

2011-08-04T09:29:00.000-07:00

Ellie so badly wanted to go to Kindergarten with her big sister, Emma, but I told her she needed to wait one more year. We decided to enjoy this one on one time and do preschool.

We started this week by focusing on the letter 'A'. Each week I will teach her a new letter and a few numbers. We start by singing our "A,B,Cs" and counting to 20.

We have done crafts, read books, learned songs that go along with that letter we are focusing on, practice writing her name, the learned letter and numbers. Ellis is having a great time and loves being able to show Emma and dad what she learned when they get home from school/work.

Ellie is a smart girl and is very excited to learn new things. I am grateful for this time that I have with her.

Cereal

2011-08-02T19:35:00.000-07:00

Ethan has been drinking bottle after bottle lately and just can't get full. Our pediatritian said with his weight to hold off on baby food and cereal till he is 6 months. Andrey and I decided to try it now (a few weeks early) so he could stay full longer. The girls were so excited to see him try cereal for the first time, they raced out of the tub. Ethan made funny faces but couldn't get enough of the food. It's so sad to see him growing up so quickly. He loves rolling over and has mastered from his tummy to his back and back to tummy, so he is all over the floor. He is going to be scooting soon with his cute chicken legs. We just love him. (video soon to come).

First day of Kindergarten

2011-08-02T09:09:00.000-07:00

What an exciting morning for Emma (and mom and dad) today was. After getting a father's blessing last night, Emma quickly fell asleep, excited for the next morning when she would begin Kindergarten. She did great on her assesment test with her new teacher, Mrs. bennett, where her teacher was shocked to hear that Emma was already sounding out words. Emma loves her teacher and was so excited for the day to begin. She had her outfit and backpack all ready to go, her homework done and ready to be turned in.

After making her eat breakfast, we loaded up the kids and dad and I went on the fun walk to school. Ellie was sad she didn't get to go, but excited to start preschool with mommy.

As the children lined up, Emma was excited to see one of her best friends, Micaela, in her class. It was fun for me to see other parents there, some very emotional, and some excited to see their children enter this next step in their life. "They are so excited, but only if they really knew what they were really getting into...." said one of the fathers. After cameras were done flashing, and Mrs. bennett told the students to wave goodbye to their parents, tears wiped, the parentes headed into the garden area where the PTA had a breakfast set up for us to mingle and eat. It was a nice morning to get a tour, sign up for clubs and programs the school has to offer (I am excited to be on the PTA, over the Reflextions program). I am so excited for Emma to come home and to hear about her first day of school. She is so grown up.

5 months old

2011-07-21T13:56:00.000-07:00

Ethan loves rolling over now. He is getting fast. The only problem is he doesn't know what to do from his tummy, so he plays for a minute then gets fussy when he can't see his sisters. He is getting two teeth in and always chews on his fingers and makes a cute "dinosaur" growl and squeal when he "talks" to us. He is growing up so fast and it is fun to see his big personality. My favorite is the tantrums that he throws (arching his back, growling while clenching his fists and kicking out his legs). =0)

(video not working, but i will get it up and going later)

Happy 4th birthday Ellie

2011-07-12T16:52:00.000-07:00

My sweet Ellie turned 4 this week. We missed her actual birthday because Andrey and I were at girls camp, but she had a fun day with Grandma and Grandpa Sampson. They took her to see "Hop", out to dinner at Arctic Circle (THERE WAS A SLIDE!!!), she opened presents (Barbies, clothes, etc.), and had "2 sleeps" as Emma calls sleep overs.
Sat. night we had a birthday party for her at my mom's house. It was full of pink and Princesses. She loved seeing family and getting presents.
Ellie has grown up so much. She loves dancing and singing, she loves playing with Barbies, babies, loves being a big sister, she is excited to do pre-school with me (mom), she loves sleeping on the top bunk, and her best friend is Emma.
Ellie is a sunbeam and loves going to primary. She is so grown up and the best helper.
Happy Birthday!

Ethan is 4 months now!

2011-07-12T16:23:00.000-07:00

Ethan is finally growing. He is a whopping 11 lbs. and 2 oz. at his last appointment. He is getting longer and longer each visit, but still a bean pole. He is so happy-always smiling and has the world's cutest laugh-so contagious (like his sister, Ellie). He loves sitting up all the time now that his head is stable enough. He coos really loudly and started throwing temper tantrums-extending his legs out, clenching his hands into fists, and yelling really loud. It is kinda' scary. It works to keep his sister, Ellie from mauling him all the time.

He is almost rolling over and just needs to figure out how to get his darn arm out of the way. He loves to be with people and cries out when he is alone in a room. He loves sitting in his "Bumbo" chair so he can see everything, and discovered his hands so they are always in his mouth. It helps now that he is teething (two are coming in soon) so he can hold toys now and, of course, they go into his mouth. He knows his name and turns when he hears it, and loves getting kisses all over his face and his most tickelish places are his legs, feet, and mostly his neck.

He gets so excited to see familiar faces and kicks his legs in excitement and flings his arms all over the place-he sure knows how to make you feel special.
His favorite way of communicating now is growling, yelling, and making a sing-song sound.

We are having so much fun with him. We love you, Ethan!

3 months old

2011-05-26T08:35:00.000-07:00

Ethan is just growing up so much-so Quickly! He is so happy, always smiling and very ticklish, so we can get the cutest giggle out of him. He sleeps through the night (thank you!), he is holding his head up really well now. He loves playing with his sister-watching them run around and play. He loves when we talk and sing to him. He coos and babbles all the time and loves when we converse with him in excitement. He loves his Bumbo chair Aunt Serenie bought for him. He feels like such a big boy being able to sit up in it. He is the best cuddler. Now if only we could get him to like taking his baths. We are so grateful to have Ethan in our family and just love him so much.

Happy birthday Dad!

2011-05-26T08:33:00.001-07:00

It was my dad's 53 birthday on the 22nd. We had such a great time celebrating this special day with him. I love my dad's sense of humor, his great support and love for his grandchildren, and always making each of us feel special. We love you dad and hope you had a wonderful birthday!

Ethan's Baby Blessing

2011-04-30T16:52:00.000-07:00

Ethan was blessed by his daddy on May 1, 2011. We are so excited to have Ethan in our family and love him so much. He is such a little stud. Thank you friend and family for your love and support and being there to celebrate this special day with us.

Happy 1st Birthday Lucy

2011-04-25T11:08:00.000-07:00

Lucy Green is 1 years old. She is such a beautiful baby. We just love her. She is always giving smiles, blowing kisses, making us laugh as she plays with toys, tries new foods, and does silly little things We had a great time at her birthday party watching her not blow out her candle and open all her fun presents. She is such a sweetheart with her cute chubby cheeks, big blue eyes, and adorable smile. We are so blessed and lucky to have Lucy in our family. Happy birthday Lucy!

Happy Easter

2011-04-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

We had such a great Easter this year. It was fun for us because we got to show Ethan off to family who has not yet met him. He was such a good baby-so happy.

We had a great time starting the holiday off with treats and movie night at Aunt Arlene's house, watching "Tangled." It was so much fun hanging out with cousins and meeting Spencer's girlfriend, Kim Pay. Emma just adored her and told me at the end of the weekend that "we have to work harder at getting those two together." Spencer just blushed like crazy when he heard this.

We woke up and had a fun family breakfast with Aunt Wendy's famous breakfast rolls and sausage. We then got eggs filled with candy for our annual easter egg hunt.

While preparing food for our barbeque, the eggs were hidden by the adults and we then went on to our baseball game. I am so out of shape and not as good at baseball as I remembered. So we voted a new sport for next year. Ha,ha. It was still a fun evening.

We then returned to Arlene's and had our easter egg hunt. It is so fun watching the kids go crazy for candy and all the shiny easter eggs. We finished the night with a barbeque, games, and Lucy's first birthday party at mom's.

Easter Sunday was an emotional one for me as I thought and pondered about our Savior and all He has done for us. I know He loves each of us. He atoned for our sins, and was resurrected and made it possible for each of us to have perfect bodies and be happy with our families forever as we live according. We finished off our Easter holiday with a few more easter egg hunts (at home and then at Aunt Serenie's) and a nice dinner with Andrey's family.

We hope you all had a wonderful Easter and felt of our Savior's love for each of you.

Happy Birthday Andrey

2011-04-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

Andrey turned the big THREE-ZERO on April 14.

Serenie (his sister) and I, with the help of family, planned a surprise party for him and had such a great time. The best part is that I was actually able to keep it a secret so he was surprised ( i am not so good at keeping secrets. My mom is agreeing right now).

Andrey's brothers took him golfing for the day and we set up his parent's church gym into a "Transformers" party. Serenie made an amazing "Transformers" cake. We had pizza, salads, people brought memries they had of Andrey and we put it together in a scrapbook/album. There was a microphone set up where, throughout the night, family and friends could share a memory of Andrey. It was so fun to hear all those stories-especially for me where i didn't know Andrey 'till after his mission. It was nice to visit with family and friends we have not seen for years. Andrey later said it was his best birthday ever. I am so glad he had a great night. It was so fun to do this for him. Thanks Ser. and family! And thank you for those of you that came and supported him and those that wanted to. We love you Andrey and hope you had a wonderful birthday.

Newborn Pictures

2011-04-16T21:16:00.000-07:00

Travis Green took these amazing pictures of our sweet Ethan for us in March since we were not able to at the hospital. He is so talented and we are so grateful for him sharing his talents with us. Above are a few of them.

Boy's clothes

2011-04-14T10:16:00.000-07:00

I told Andrey the one thing that is sad about having a boy is there are so many more girls clothes out there that are just so cute. He said in response "well maybe we will save more money with this kid then..." I have noticed that boys do really have adorable clothes and Andrey does not like this realization. Some of my favorites: Anything "manly" like trucks, wagons, etc.

I just love love love baby overalls and am so glad that Ethan has about 5 pairs of them. Also, every boy/man looks good in uniform-even sport's uniforms.

Smiles

2011-04-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

Hydroswift for sale

2011-04-11T15:08:00.000-07:00

We are selling our 17 foot hydroswift boat. for $800. It is a 100 horse power Johnson outboard. It will pull a skiier (we had tons of fun with it). It has new trailer tires. Refurbished hull. Good boat for play. We have had it for many years and have enjoyed taking it to the lake and going fishing. Come and see it!!!

2011-04-11T15:04:00.000-07:00

8 weeks old

they sure love their little brother.

Ethan 6 weeks

2011-04-05T11:36:00.000-07:00

We are just having so much fun with a boy. It is so new with changing the diaper and dodging surprises (though Ellie is not always quick enough), watching how big he is getting (a lot faster than the girls), he eats more than Emma and Ellie, and he is super cuddly (which the girls were not. They had to see everything around them). Ethan now recognizes mom and dad and smiles at everything. He loves when we sing to him, play peek-a-boo, and when the girls talk to him in their super high-pitched voices. He is full of smiles and occasionally looks like he is trying so hard to say something as his little mouth moves around, but nothing comes out.

He has quite the temper and is not very patient, but he is just so little, all he knows is when he wants to eat HE WANTS TO EAT. =0) We continually feel so blessed to have him as part of our family to brighten each day, and give us a 3rd thing to look forward to seeing each morning (along with his sweet sisters).

Happy St. Patrick's day

2011-03-22T15:29:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful St. Patrick's day. My family started this tradition where we have a "Green Party" (no pun inteded since my sister's married name is Green). We play games like: Pin the shamrock on the leprachaun/rainbow, green jello slurping contest, we go through a pool of sawdust full of $60 worth of coins and chocolate coins (my fav.), and some other games. It changes each year. The one thing that is the most exciting is we play a final game where the winner gets to sign the Idolized Gold Bear. Andrey won this year as he was the quickest at popping all the bubble wrap (you had to pop them all without popping the 13 that were marked on it with green). It's a fun, silly tradition and the holiday is ended with our shoes (we leave a shoe there over night on the 16th) filled with chocolates and goodies. The girls love this holiday and it's always fun to be able to spend time with my fun family. We hope you all had a wonderful St. Patrick's day full of luck. "Tie-tee-tie-tee-tie!" (as uncle Travis would say).

Emerson - Mommy's Nose is Scary! (Original)

2011-03-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

1 month old Ethan

2011-03-16T11:21:00.001-07:00

Ethan is one month old today!

How time flies. He is such a great baby-he lets us sleep at night only waking up occasionally, he loves hugs and kisses and having his big sisters hold him, he is doing better at holding his head up and we are excited to see an occasional social smile (and many when he is sleeping). He is about 7 lbs. and 7 oz. and continues to grow.

Ethan hates getting a bath, being changed, being alone, and loud noises (so he is truly in the wrong family and will have to get over that one). Ethan has some silly things about him that make him unique: instead of spitting up, he shoots milk out his nose (not a pleasant feeling) and he has one flat ear and one that sticks out and curls under. it is the cutest thing. Ethan loves his cousin

lucy (his only coisin on his mom's side) and it's fun to watch Lucy with him.

We just love him so much and are so excited to see the other milestones he makes as he gets bigger.

3 weeks

2011-03-10T10:18:00.000-08:00

Ethan is now 3 weeks old. He is doing great. He is now 20 1/2 inches and 7 lbs. 7 oz. He was supossed to be back to his birth weight of 6 lbs. 14 oz. but he went above and beyond. "He is for sure a Glover," was Andrey's response (they are known for going above and beyond in all that they do).

Ethan is doing great with getting used to his sisters (even though they still can't hold or touch him till they are better from their cold and coughs), he is awake a lot during the day and only wakes up once or twice at night (mommy and daddy are so grateful for that). He loves making eye contact and sharing an occasional smile.

He is recovering now from his circumcision and was such a brave, with only a wimper as the doctor jokingly asked as he returned from doing the circ., if I had picked out a girls name for Ethan. Silly Dr. Brasher. =0)

Ethan loves being help and cuddled and is so different from his sisteres who loved to be sitting up and facing others. We love having a boy and learning the differences between him and his sisters and are so grateful that after all we have been through with getting him here, that we are blessed to be with him for all eternity.

Return of the IMC

2011-03-10T10:12:00.000-08:00

We were all recovering from our sicknesses when I felt this big pain in my right leg. I looked and there was a huge vein bulging from my knee and it was rock hard and turning colors. I called my aunt (who has dwelt with blood clots many times) after elevating my leg. She came over and told me to rush to the E.R. and have it looked at. After getting a sitter for the kids and getting Andrey home, we spent the afternoon with me in a gown again (I guess I missed it so much from weeks before...yeah right) and laying on a hospital bed wondering what was going to happen to me. Would the blood clot reach my lungs? Was it just a surface blood clot? I have never prayed so much in my life than I had this last month.
It was neat to see the amazing technology that we have and to see the ultrasound of my leg being done. The nurses and doctors were amazing, answering any questions I had and giving me advice as how to prevent blod clots (my legs are pretty scary with the varicose veins).
After the tests were completed, I was relieved to find out that I had a superficial phlebitis (surface blood clot that would not reach my lungs or harm me in any extreme way). To recover, I have been taking Ibuprofin (sp?) and warm compressions, and elevating my leg when I could find time. This was a scary experience and I still worry, but I am so blessed and grateful for familiy, friends, doctors, nurses, and amazing technology that take care of us and look after us.

Welcome Home Ethan

2011-02-24T19:55:00.000-08:00

Andrey and I were so excited to hear at our morning visit that we got to take Ethan home. He passed his car seat test where his oxon his own oxygen level needed to stay at 85% for two hours. He then had to be weened off the oxygen and be on his own for 24 hours. He did a great job. he passed his hearing test (we knew he would because when Andrey sneezed Ethan jumped like crazy. lol) and after getting him into his car seat, we were off. The girls were so excited when they climbed into the car from the sitters and saw a baby there. It's been a fun night with feedings, holding Ethan (the girls can't get enough of him), giving him a bath after being covered in tubes all week, and just loving him. We are so grateful for all the nurses, doctors and other employees at the NICU that helped take such good care of our little Ethan. This has been a trying week, but through the power of the priesthood, many prayers, and lots of faith, we have been able to have our prayers answered and are so blessed to welcome Ethan into our eternal family.

Daddy putting Ethan to sleep

2011-02-23T12:51:00.000-08:00

Father and Son time

2011-02-23T12:00:00.000-08:00

One Week Old

2011-02-23T11:30:00.000-08:00

Ethan is one week old today. It has been a tough week of driving back and forth mornings and nights to see Ethan. We were able to spend the night two times so I could try nursing him once he was off the Cpap and with regular oxygen. We are so grateful for family for taking the girls and relieving that stress so we could be with Ethan and get to know him and meet his needs. We are also grateful for friends for their advice, sharing their similar experiences, and bringing peace to our minds and hearts. We are so proud of Emma for being such big girls and for being so great this week. They have been little sweethearts and are excited to have their little brother home. Emma is counting down.

Ethan has been doing so well. He was able to nurse and took to that quickly, eating 3 oz. a meal now (which is a lot for our kids). He is done with his antibiotics this morning and they have taken him off the oxygen. They will watch him for 24 hours and if he doesn't have any episodes (which he did yesterday while he was sleeping-he couldn't get back up where he needed to on his own so they needed to turn the oxygen up) then we get to bring him home tomorrow. We are so happy and so excited and praying that he will do well the next 24 hours. I sure love Ethan and love being able to hold him and have time with him. Andrey is such a proud father and excited to havea son. He loves his two daughters and little boy and we are excited to have our family home. Now it's getting through the next day or two and then not stressing too much when he is home. Thank you everyone for your prayers, help with the girls, meals, and your friendship and support.

Baby Ethan is Here

2011-02-18T20:37:00.000-08:00

BABY ETHAN: 6 LBS. 14 OZ. 20 INCHES LONG. BORN ON FEB. 16, 2011 AT 11:26 A.M.

Andrey and I were hanging out when the contractions started. We waited a few hours and when they were getting a little uncomfortable and 10 min apart, we called my mom and dad and took the girls (around midnight) to their house for their sleepover party.

We hurried over to the Intermountain Center Hospital in Murray. When i got there and they checked me I didn't really have any change. Still at a 3 and 75% effaced. I was so sad because we had waited so long before we went in. They told me I could stay another hour. Well after still no change they contacted my dr., Dr. Kaelberer and he said try one more hour and if nothing then I could come back when they were too hard to talk to and breath through.

I said a silent prayer and within two min. after the nurse left the room, the contractions got so bad- I didn't remember them ever being that bad with Ellie (later found out it's because she was breach). Another hour later, and after gripping the side of the bed and worrying Andrey, I was admitted. YAH!!! Ethan was going to be here soon.

We got into the room, got my water broken and the dr. saw that there was some maconuim (the baby's first stool) in it and that worried them because there could be a possibility that Ethan could have swollowed some (which can cause pnemonia (sp?) or other respritory problems or infections) so they called in the NICU people to make sure someone was there to check his lungs.

Until then, I just rested for a few hours trying to brave the contractions. ater getting to a 6 I decided to get an epidural (I would have needed one anyway since I was high risk, I just wanted to see how long I could go). The epidural was just as FUN (sheesh) as I remembered. lol The anesthesiologist (sp?) was super fast and it was not too bad and within min. I was in heaven and able to rest. Andrey and I took a little nap.

The only problem with an epidural as some of you may know, is that is slows down the contractions. So after an hour they gave me some petosin and the contractions started going crazy. Soon after they checked me and I was ready to start pushing. They joked that he would just slide right out, but he had a head like his daddy so it tood about 4 contractions worth of pushing to get our handsome boy out.

Andrey hurried and clipped the umbilicle (sp?) chord and they passed him off to the NICU nurses to clean him out. They found some of the maconium in his stomach. After clearing him out and wiping him down we were able to hold him. He looks so much like Ellie and a little Andrey Jr.

We went up to the recovery room and the nurse took him to check his vitals and then was going to bath him in our room but an hour later we heard some shocking news that he was admitted into the NICU. He had fluid in his lungs and they were worried about his heart (it looked too small). I was so heartbroken but instantly said a prayer and felt at peace. He would be watched over.

Andrey went down with the nurse to be with him and as visitors came we sent them down two at a time and I got to play hostess in the room. It was hard to not have my baby with me. As visitors slowed down, I was able to go down and see him. It broke my heart. He had so many tubes all over. He needed the Cpap to help his breathing, a feeding tube, an IV for antibiotics in case of infection, and then being under the lights for his Jaundice. The hardest thing was that we couldn't hold him.

Andrey and I were able to have time together to work on our faith and to be there for one another. We had Travis, my brother in law, come that night and, with Andrey, give Ethan a blessing. It was amazing to feel of the Spirit of that little baby and to feel of the Priesthood power that was there. I am so grateful for the blessings of the gospel and we quickly saw progress with Ethan's health. His lungs were doing better, his breathing as doing better, and by the second day, we were able to hold him, try to nurse him, and Andrey and I had fun bathing him at midnight our last night there. He loved the bath and it was fun to see Andrey so excited to be with his little boy. We had fun holding him as he slept so peacefully. We sure love him and are happy he is getting better and hope he continues to do so so we can have him home with us next week.

He looks a lot like Ellie and has my far-set eyes, but looks like a little mini Andrey. He is so handsome and we are just so excited at every chance we get to be with him.

I am so grateful for the great and easy delivery and for this special little spirit we get to have as part of our eternal family. It is amazing at how much love you can have for a person you have only just met. We are excited to welcome baby Ethan into our family. He was 6 lbs. 14 oz. and 20 inches long.

We want to thank all of you for your prayers, phone calls, e-mails, texts, and support. We love you all.

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T15:44:00.000-08:00

We had a good day today and the girls are so excited for tonight.

I went to the doctors this morning after registering Emma for Kindergarten (tear, she is so grown up-but super excited). I am at a 3 1/2 (cm) and 75% effaced, so we are excited to get this baby soon. His due date is in 4 days, but if he copies his sisters, we won't see him till next week. Dr. Kaelberer (whom we love) said they will induce me next Wed. if I have not had him, so it is seeming more real now.

Andrey and I didn't make any plans for Valentin'es day just in case I had Ethan, so I called him and told him I would be around for the holiday. He wanted to go out, but we didn't get a sitter and it's too last min. So, while he is working, I asked the girls what they wanted to do for Valentine's day. After delivering their valentines to friends, we set up a small table in the livingroom, decorated it with candies, hearts, and they had fun setting the table with candles and deciding what to have for dinner. They called their dad and told him to hurry home because they have a surprise for him.

I am excited to be able to spend Valentine's Day with the family and to have this memory with the girls-they are so excited and I am grateful for this holiday to be able to express my love for my beautiful girls and wonderful, loving husband. We hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

(sorry the pictures are the wrong direction. Just turn your head to the side...lol).

Countdown

2011-02-12T18:20:00.000-08:00

My doctor started checking my progress a month ago and the first appointment was a shock. I had a hard time dilating with the girls and was always stuck at a 1 or 1 1/2. With a month left we were excited to hear that I was at a 2 and 50% effaced. "It's your 3rd kid" everyone says. Now I know this, but I was still super excited. My next appointment a week later I changed to a 2 1/2 and still 50% effaced. We were getting super excited, but also in pain from all the Braxtin Hicks and contractions. This pregnancy has been so different (which is why we assumed it was a boy). I was not that sick. I have not thrown up once in the 9 months. I have had a lot of energy and am eating constantly, making it to where I have also gained more weight this pregnancy than the last two.
My next appointment there was no change and I was shocked because I was up all night having contractions, but I guess it was just my body preparing me for what is to come.
I went in last week and was excited to hear that I was at a 3 and 75% effaced. YAH!!! We get to have our little boy soon. We are so excited for baby Ethan.
Ok, to be honest, I am a little scared. Of course I am nervous about having a baby boy and raising a boy because my family is girls (4 daughters, a niece, and two daughters), so it's a little intimidating. But what I am scared of is having to start over again. It was been 3 1/2 years and I forgot everything. I saw small babies at the hospital and it just scares me at how little they are. So fragile, and depending on me for everything. It is hard not to feel inadequate right now.
But aside from these feelings, I am ready for the late nights, early mornings, constant diaper changing, etc. But most importantly, i am just so excited to get baby Ethan as part of our eternal family and to have him in my arms.
Andrey and the girls are so excited.
We will keep you all posted. My next appointment is on Monday and that leaves 4 for days till my due date (unless he decides to come visit us sooner).
Thank you all for your love, support, phone calls, e-mails, etc. We love you all!

Baby showers

2011-01-10T13:46:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to thank all my family and friends for great baby showers. it was so nice to relax, visit with family-the girls ...and get better prepared for having a BOY! There are so mnay fun things out there for babies and Andrey and I are so blessed and grateful for those that threw the baby showers for us. Thank you everyone for your love and support and we are so excited to have baby Ethan as part of our family. 5 more weeks!!!

Merry Christmas

2011-01-10T13:34:00.000-08:00

(Ellie had a little too much fun) and this is how we found her in the backseat) lol

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas this 2010 year. Our girls were so excited to go to all the ward Christmas parties where they got to meet Santa Clause, go to Festival of Trees and get their picture taken with Santa Clause and see the programs, buy treats, and look at all the pretty trees. We had fun going to family parties, having White elephant exchanges, yummy food, gifts for the girls, and waking up Christmas morning to find that Santa had eaten his cookies and drank his tall glass of milk. The girls loved getting so many fun things. Most of all, Ellie was excited to get her puppy Pillow Pet and Emma to get her "video game" Leapster with the "Tangled" game. We had fun visiting all our grandparents, getting new pjs, camping items for the "cousin's sleep over," tall stockings full of goodies, toys, Emma's lady bug "Pillow Pet" and Ellie's Barbie that she just loves to decorate and make her hair "long long and so pretty".
It was so nice to have Andrey home and not out plowing snow, so that was my favorite Christmas gift this year.
We had such a nice and relaxing Christmas and a happy new year spending time with cousins and aunts and uncles, eating good food and watching movies and playing games.
But most importantly, we are so grateful for our Savior, for his birth, his atonement and Resurrection after death, and the life He lived for each of us. We are so blessed to feel of his constant Spirit and are grateful to have it here in our home and to share it with those around us.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-12-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

November was a great month. I don't know if everyone has a facebook account, but I loved having it this month because it was great to see every day my friends would post something they were grateful for. I took on the challenge and found that it was not very hard. I was able to find something I have been blessed with the whole month. My attitude and gratitude changed and I felt so much love for my family, friends, the gospel, my Savior, and I am so grateful for all that I have.
We were so blessed to be able to spend so much time with all our family members eating great food and enjoying each others' company. It is fun to have a curious Emma who wants to know the meaning behind every holiday. We had a great time thinking of things we were grateful for: her primary teacher, her toys, best friends, the snow, her warm bed, her dad and mom and sister and soon to be baby brother.
I am so grateful for all of you and thank you for your examples and love. We pray that you all have wonderful holidays and feel of our Savior's love.

Multi-stake youth halloween party

2010-10-28T13:52:00.000-07:00

Andrey, me and the girls had a good time last night at our multi-stake youth Halloween activity. One of the advantages of being a youth leader is getting invited to all these fun activities. It was FREEZING cold, but we still got all dressed up in our costumes and ready to have some fun. I was a witch, Andrey was a wizard (Everyone called him "Gandolf"-sorry if I mispelled it), Emma was a witch, and Ellie was "Tinkerbell." We had layers and coats on cause of the freezing weather so it was silly to even dress up, but we had fun with the activities planned for the night: bobbing for apples (Emma won), a halloween scavenger hunt, eating scones and hot apple cider, the candy guessing game, costume contest (Andrey won without even trying to. lol) pumpkin decorating contest (sigh...we didn't win....ok so I cheated), "guess what name is on your back by asking yes and no questions", and they also had fire pits all over the grass area for everyone to stand around when they got too cold. It was fun with the music blasting and being able to visit and look at all the fun costumes. Some of our favorites were the girls with laundry baskets round them full of laundry, the santa claus with a "naughty" had on his head, the pink and green "Care Bears", Jack Sparrow, and my counselor, Michele, had a cape on, her hair all spiked, and a big "B.S." on her shirt. lol It was a fun night and I am glad the girls and all our youth (that went) had a great time. Hallween is such a fun holiday-and the fun has only begun. BOO!!!

Happy birthday Travis!!!

2010-10-28T13:49:00.000-07:00

Today is my brother in law's birthday. We love you Travis and hope you have a wonderful birthday. We can't wait to celebrate your birthday on Sat. morning! Partay time!!! Travis is so funny, loves all his nieces and nephews, has the best sense of humor, loves his wife (Robyn) and daughter Lucy so much. He has an amazing singing voice, and would do anything for anyone. He is very talented and we are so lucky to have him as part of our family. Happy birthday!!!

Happy 17th Birthday, Bailee!

2010-10-28T13:33:00.000-07:00

My sister, Bailee, turned 17 on Oct. 22. She got her drivers license, gets to date lots, so I think she is one happy 17 year old. =0) We had fun joining the family for dinner and watching her open all her fun presents with a little "Heavy, heavy, hang over, thy poor head. What do you wish this person with a bonk! on the head?" Bailee is amazing. She is always so outgoing, playing tennis (going to be the team captain next year), in madrigals (has an amazing voice), plays the piano, violin, very friendly to all, is amazing at setting a goal and working hard at achieving it. She is an amazing example to me and we love her so much. Happy Birthday Bailee!!!

Gardner Village fun

2010-10-16T17:35:00.001-07:00

We had so much fun in Gardner Village today. The witches were a lot of fun to see. Our favorites were the hoola hooping witch and the one on the boat with the dynamite. We love that place.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-16T10:09:00.000-07:00

We had such a fun day at Gardner village. The girls dressed up in their Halloween costumes and had fun seeing the witches, pumpkins and all the fun stores they have there. I think that is one of my favorite places to go! Happy Halloween!(I am too lazy to turn the pictures. I will do that another day)....

We love Fall

2010-10-15T14:40:00.000-07:00

Fall is so beautiful, the leaves change colors, the weather is perfect. We get to decorate the yard for Halloween (we like to go full out). The girls get so excited for their costumes, trying them on every day. I am halfway through with my pregnancy (22 weeks to be exact). We had fun with daddy (Andrey) taking pictures of them. Emma refused to smile, but it was better than leaving her out. lol Happy Fall to everyone! (sorry, the pictures are turned the wrong direction)....

It's a .....

2010-10-11T21:27:00.000-07:00

(this cute cake was made from my friend Julia...such a sweet friend!)

Andrey and I went in the morning to our ultra sound appointment where we saw a very active baby. The radiologst had a hard time seeing what the sex of our baby was. And then when she finally got a good shot, the umbil. (sp?) cord was in the way (between the legs) so she had to continue on measuring things. Everything was perfect. The heart, kidneys, brain, stomach, feet and hands, and a cute little nose. The baby was folded in half and kicked itself in the face a few times. lol She finally was able to see what it was. We are having....
A BOY!!!
We are so so excited. Andrey said, "I am sending it back if it's a girl!" the sad thing is that I kinda believe him, so "thank you baby for being a boy...lol" It is the first boy on my side of the family so they are all excited. We had a "Glover Gender Party" where we decorated their house in Pink balloons and blue streamers to confuse them and after a spaghetti dinner and visiting for a while (and dragging it out as long as possible), we showed them the U/S video where they guessed what the baby was. They were very excited and baby got lots of pats and talking to after. Andrey is just glowing with pride. We have decided to name him Ethan Andrey Glover (ok so the name was picked out before we ever had any kids...it just took a while to have a boy). We love our girls though and would have loved another girl, but we are very excited to have a boy. As Andrey said to the doctor, "Third time's a charm!" lol We are so happy and now it's time to learn what to do with a boy. uh oh.... My due date is going to stay February 18, 2011.

Happy birthday Emma

2010-09-21T13:13:00.000-07:00

Emma is such a big girl taday. After counting down the days till her birthday with her chain, she is so excited to turn 5. We started the day off with her and Ellie going to the doctors and getting their shots (I know, I'm a horrible mom). We then decorated cupcakes for her party, and she is super excited for her birthday dinner at McDonalds ("Old McDonalds" as she calls it) and then her party at the park. She loves getting letters in the mail so the last few days she has loved getting it from the mail lady to know that her name as on the envelopes.

Emma is so smart. So much to say and always has us laughing. She is an amazing big sister and we are excited to welcome this new little one to our family so he/she can learn from Emma. Emma has an amazing love for the church, primary, the scriptures (she carries her Book Of Mormon around with her everywhere), and teaches us something new every day. We love her so much and are so glad to have her as part of our family. Happy 5th Birthday Emma!

Anniversary Fun

2010-09-18T20:01:00.000-07:00

Andrey and I had such a fun anniversary. We went to Gateway and had a wonderful dinner at Applebee's. We then stayed in the Hayloft room at Anniversary Inn where we were spoiled with cheesecakes, fun movies, huge tub, and a wonderful breakfast in bed in the morning. We then went to the mall and exchanged a CTR ring that didn't fit me and saw a movie.
We had a nice relaxing weekend ending with dinner with our girls and exchanging gifts to each other.
I love you Andrey and thank you for a wonderful weekend and Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary Andrey!

2010-09-16T10:09:00.000-07:00

Six years ago on September 17th, 2004, Andrey and I were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple bright and early in the morning. I love you Andrey and am so grateful for you, the priesthood that you hold, and the support you give to me and our beautiful daughters. I am so grateful that it is forever. I love you and happy anniversary!

Happy Birthday Robyn!

2010-09-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Happy birthday to my lil' sister, Robyn. Today she turned ....(hmm lets see, three years younger than me, but four years younger in grade school....so that would make her) let me call her real quick and find out....

HAPPY 24th BIRTHDAY ROBYN!!!

We are excited to celebrate tonight and have some good cake and icecream and have the girls (Emma and Ellie) open your birthday presents. tee, hee,hee We love you!!!

August

2010-09-02T21:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to MEEEEE!!! I am the big 27 and not anywhere near 30 like my hubby. wa, ha, ha, ha! We had a great time at Letherbys and celebrating with all our family members. I love birthdays. Thanks everyone for a great one. It's always fun to log onto facebook and have birthday wishes all day. lol

School started for many and the excitement is in the air. My dad is teaching a new 4th grade class, my sister, Bailee is loving being in Madrigals and on the tennis team. She is so talented. My sister, Kaycee is loving being in the school clubs and I hope she tries out for the school play. It will be fun to watch her this year. She has an amazing singing voice and a cute smile. Watch out boys!

Emma just missed the deadline for kindergarten, so I get my girls home with me again, but we will have fun doing preschool here...cause it's FREE. wink wink.

I got to go to my first doctor's appointment with Dr. Kaelberer and he is a great doctor. I was sad to lose my original doctor, Dr. Larkin (he retired) but my new doctor is great and we are excited. Everything looked great with the baby, the heartbeat is strong and it was fun to see the ultra sound. I quickly scrapbooked the pictures and it's so fun to see the little hands, head, body...but no boy or girl parts yet.

I am 16 weeks along now so we are excited to go into the doctors again in a few weeks and hear the baby's heartbeat again. This pregnancy has been so different. I am able to do so much, play volleyball, bike ride, jog, and eat whatever I want....but candy and the greasy foods (but I won't complain too much). The girls are so excited to. Every night they hug and kiss the baby goodnight and Ellie loves to talk to baby. They are going to be great helpers when the baby is born. We are so excited. All the baby stuff is all clean and ready.

Our newest projects have been getting the cupboards and countertops in, cleaning out the back porch, and getting our new room done before the baby is born. Andrey is working so hard and I really appreciate him and all he does. He is amazing and is a great father.

Happy August!

July

2010-09-02T20:55:00.000-07:00

Andrey is so excited to get new counselors in his young men's presidency. These two men are great. They come to everything, they have fun with the boys, and they love to teach them. Thanks Tyler and Jeff. It sure takes a lot of stress out of Andrey's life.

We had a great time in Fillmore again, going to the activities the town had, the kids hit the pinatas, good food, fun family and watching the most amazing firework show I have ever seen before. We had a good time...except for Ellie, who hid in my arm the whole firework show (she has always been afraid) and then eventually fell asleep there.

My baby turned 3 on July 8th. She is so big. We had her party at the Oquirrh fitness center at the pool. We had pizza dinner, icecream cake roll and had fun swimming after opening presents. She is so big. She is talking a lot more (even with her lack of teeth after the front two got knocked out last year), she has so much fun with her sister Emma, dancing and singing. She loves swimming. She has enjoyed her three years in the nursery and can't wait to be in Primary with Emma. We will see how she does though. I love her so much. She is such a joy to us and our family. Happy Birthday Ellie!

I was sad to miss Ellie's actual birthday (her party was the sat. after) because I was at our girl's rough camp. It was so much fun camping out with my amazing counselors, Lana and Michele. We had a big group of girls go up where we did activities based on each of the young women values, skits, fireside, watching "Jonny Lingo" (based off our "MOO-becoming 8 cow young women" theme), testimony meeting, s'mores, trying to cook on our own without the men to help (and having the lantern blow up in our faces. lol). I love the young women and we have so much fun together. We really had a great week.

Happy Birthday MOM!!!! The big 49 ....almost 50 AHHHH!!!!! I love my mom so much and am so blessed to have her in my life, around all the time to visit with, watch my girls, talk to when I need someone to talk to, and to celebrate her birthday with her. We hope she had a great day. Love you mom!

We got free tickets to go to Lagoon and it was so fun taking the girls. Ellie had never been and Emma was so small the last time we went she didn't remember much. We decided to hurry and go before I got too far along and wouldn't be able to go on any of the rides. We woke up early, got lunch, and headed over to the park. The girls had so much fun on all the rides, the Lagoon-a-beach, and we spent all day and night there (I only got sick once or twice. haha). We then took the girls to my mom's and Andrey and I went back and went on all the "Big kid rides" (as Emma calls them). Our favorite ride was Wicked. It is so intense. It was so fun to be able to hang out with Andrey and enjoy each other's company.

We ended the month with a fun family Wolf reunion. We started it off by going to the Zoo. Ellie had never been so she had a great time seeing all the animals and hanging out with all her cousins. We then drove to Yuba lake for the rest of the weekend and took our boat out. We went water skiing, rafting, sun bathing (sun burning that is...) and slept in tents. It was fun being over meals and trying all the new food ideas everyone had, making flip flops (with fabric around them), hitting the princess pinata, etc. It was great to have a relaxing family reunion. Thank you Arlene (and Joe) for a great family reunion.

Happy July

June

2010-09-02T13:01:00.000-07:00

Emma and Ellie got to start swimming lessons for the first time this month. I did a mommy and me class with Ellie where we would sing songs as we taught them how to go under water, paddle with their arms, kick their feet, blow bubbles, and lay on their backs. Emma took the 4-5 year old class where she learned "Monkey, airplane, soldier" moves and became a pro at floating on her back and going under water. She made a lot of new friends and I was so proud to see them learning how to swim. My mom took my girls to a birthday party for Dax (my cousin's boy) where they had a big pool. Emma had a life jacket on and told my mom "I am going to die" my mom was shocked and asked her again, "WHAT EMMA?!" "I am going to go in the pool and die!" "Oh," my mom thought, laughing..." you mean DIVE?" "Yeah," Emma responded. And so she did. She walked to the deep end and dove into the water, doing it repeatedly. She keeps telling us that because she took swimming lessons this summer, she knows how to swim, and she sure showed us. What a silly SCARY girl. lol

Happy birthday to my sister in law, Harmony. We love you and hope you had a great day!

Happy Anniversary to my sister Robyn and her great hubby, Travis. Yah for 3 years!!!! And a cute baby!!!!

We had fun with family reunions this month. We had a few with Kathy (Andrey's mom's) side. It was great to see family, eat good food, and catch up on the latest news.

Andrey had his weeklong where they went hiking, fishing, boating, waterskiing, and had lots of fun. He loves working with the scouts and young men as the young men's president.

We were all able to be in the Taylorsville day parade where Andrey rode my Uncle Joe's train and they dedicated it to him after his recent passing. it was fun to have all the kids, grandkids and neices and nephews ride in the train and throw candy. As adults, we wore our train hats and threw candy and sprayed everyone with our spray bottles. We love and miss you "Pa pa choo choo" (as Dax called his grandpa).

We had fun the last tuesday of this month taking all our youth out shooting. It was scary, but they all learned gun safety and as leaders we learned it was safest to stay away and behind them. They all had a great time.

May

2010-09-02T12:44:00.000-07:00

What an emotional month.

Andrey lost his job the day after I found out I was pregnant.

He was working for Premeir Mentoring as the Security manager and fix-it-man.

It was hard because we were dropped down to my income which was only enough to pay some bills, and now with child number 3 on the way, we had to act fast.

We were very blessed and things fell into place.

(sorry for the sideways pictures). lol

We got assistance that we qualified for-getting the girls and me and baby insurance coverage, and then the side jobs from neighbors and other friend just started pouring in, so Andrey has been staying busy, making it possible for us to make the payments we need to. I have my job still (but will be quitting at the end of September), but have been asked by a few families to start watching their kids again so that will help bring in money. We are always blessed, and as Andrey says, "if we continue to pay our tithing and fast offerings, we will always be blessed and watched over." It is true.

I was 5 1/2 weeks along when I found out I was pregnant, so I was just starting to get the monring sickness which was an all day 24 hour sickness, but eating always made it better, so this pregnancy has been very different so far. The last two I was never able to eat anything, so here's hopeing that it's a boy. lol

We have been planning our girls rough camp, with the theme being "MOO- becoming 8 cow young women". We had a "P" night where we had a sleep over with all our young women and ate Pizza, Popcorn, watched a movie and sewed our cow patterned Pj bottoms. It was fun to hang out and get excited for our Rough camp. We have been busy getting our flag made and other camp preparations in order.

Happy Happy birthday to my dad, Chuck. He is the big OLD 52 (see, Andrey, now you don't feel so old, do ya?). I love my dad so much and it was a fun day celebrating his birthday.

We had our traditional Memorial day breakfast at my grandpa's house on the 31st. It was harder this year because of the passing of my Uncle Joe and my Grandpa Wolf.

My sisters and I were able to sing at my uncles funeral (his death was a big shock to us all and was all of the sudden). We sang "Abide With Me." It was an amazing funeral and great to hear from his wife, Arlene and his children, Nicole and Tyson. I miss my uncle Joe so much. He was such a tease and loved us all so much. He gave the best hugs. The memorial day breakfast was a good time for us to think about these men we miss and love in our lives.

I was able to cut 3 of my young women's hair....it was a scary thing for me, but they were great to be my guinea pigs and it was fun to learn to cut hair. Thanks Oliphant girls!!!

Happy May!

April

2010-09-02T12:26:00.001-07:00

Happy Happy Birthday Andrey!!!!! So OLD!!!! The big 29 AH!!! He is so unhappy with this birthday-it means one more year till he is the big THREE ZERO... but we still had fun. lol

We started this month off with our traditional trip to Fillmore for Easter. We always have our easter egg hunt where the adults stuff the eggs and hide them from all the kids. it's so much fun to watch everyone find thier goodies in the big property my aunt and uncle own. It's always fun to stay up late and visit and catch up. We then enjoyed easter egg hunting at my parents on Easter Sunday. I am so grateful for our Savior, for his resurreciton and all the miracles he has made possible for each of us.

Happy Easter!

Happy Birthday to my Brother in law, David. Hope you had a great birthday!!!

Robyn had baby Lucy on April 19th (a week late). It all went well, minus the fact that her doctor (my amazing retired doctor, Dr. Larkin) wasn't there to deliver her, but now we have ourselves a new doctor. Thank you Dr. Kaelberer.

Lucy is a bundle of joy and we love having her and her chubby cheeks in our family .She is always so smiley and such a strong things. We are so happy to have her in our familiy. Congratulations Robyn and Travis!!!

I had a frustrating month where my heart was skipping beats and then had a rapid heart beat, so we went to the U of U and they ran all sorts of tests on me, I did the stress test (running on the tredmill and then getting an ultrasound done of my heart) and then had to wear a heart monitor for a week. It was scary but the results were good, so I won't need to worry about anything major. I just wish my heart would be normal. It was fun to see how they check out the heart though. I love how technology is now days. It's amazing all the things it can do for us. We are very blessed to live during this time.

I started my new job at ABC Great beginnings, an amazing Day Care. I love working there but am sad to have to quit after only being there for 5 months. I love the children there and have had a great time getting to know and get attached to all of them. I started in the baby room getting to know Jack, Joshua, Aven, Braxten, Issac, and many others. I then was moved to the 2 year old's room where I fell in love with those little tornados. I was then a Floater where I would be with the 2 year olds, then the 4 year olds, then the 3 year olds, occasionally closing the day care and getting to know the older kids. I am now back with the toddlers the first half of the day then I close with the babies. I love working there, playing with the kids, doing snack time, dancing, reading, coloring, playing with playdough, outside time, and making close friends with the workers there. I will truly miss it, and my boss, Jenny.

Happy April!

March

2010-09-02T12:08:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's day. My family does a fun tradtion where we all leave one shoe over night and the Leprachaun leaves a trail of foot prints (confetti) and then stuffs our shoes with chocolates and other treats. It's always a highlight for us and we wake up all excited and ready to race over to my mom's house. lol

It was fun going shopping to get all four of us green shirts and other accesories to match the holiday. Emma was so concerned that she would be pinched after I explained that silly tradition to her, so she was all decked out from head to toe. I think I still tried to pinch her a few times.

(All our cute neices and nephews as we got them together at a family gathering) ...little side note.

Happy Birthday to my sister in law, Serenie. She is amazing and amazingly talented. She actually was recently married in Jamaica. We had her reception recently and it was great to have them bring Jamaica to us. Congratulations Brad and Serenie!!!

I messed up on dates...my sister in law, Destiny actually got married on March 12th. tee hee hee.

My sister, Robyn, had a baby shower this month for her baby, Lucy. It was fun to be over that, playing games, decorating onsies, eating good food (thanks mom), and enjoying company. We were so excited for cute Lucy to come into this world.

Happy March!!!

February

2010-09-02T11:57:00.000-07:00

My family (my mom's side) does this fun things where all the cousins and aunts get together and have a craft/cooking day. It is fun to learn new things as each family takes turns teaching new skills and it's a great time talking and hanging out outside of family reunions and the holidays.
We have done origome (sp?), cake decorating lessons, drawing, etc.

Happy super late birthday to my little sister on Feb. 12th. She turned the big 14 and is so beautiful and so grown up. She finally chopped her hair off to her shoulders (it was to her waste about) and donated that, so it's fun to see her new dew for the school year.
My sister in law, destiny and her husband Tad got married on the 18th of Feb. and that was amazing being able to be to their sealing and reception .They are an amazing couple-great examples and it was so fun to be there to be part of that. Thank you love birds!
I love love and it was great to spend this Valentine's Day with my hubby, Andrey. We have so much fun together and it's always nice to be together without the kids (whom we love and adore) but to find out again that he truly is my best friend. Happy February to you all.

Bun in the Oven

2010-07-15T20:49:00.001-07:00

Ok so i missed the last 5 months on here and i promise i will catch you all up on life...it's been crazy full of camps, weeklongs, new job for Holli, Andrey losing his job, and the latest news: we are expecting baby number three. I am due Feb. 18, 2011 (date may change as I am further along) so I am only 2 months along right now, and it's a whole lot different than when I was pregnant with Emma and Ellie, so Andrey is hoping ...so badly....that it's a boy. He has been waiting FOREVER for a son. His name is picked out and everything. lol So that's our latest news. The rest is yet to come.

FOREVER

2010-06-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

Ok life has been crazy crazy crazy. I am going to promise to get on here the next few days and update from FEB to now. lol so look out.....

Go Jazz!!!

2010-01-24T21:36:00.000-08:00

Our friend, Zach, gets us free tickets to the jazz games about once a month . We are big Jazz fans and are willing to take these tickets off his hands. We have had so much fun watching the games, seeing the Crazy Bear go sliding down the stairs, ride his motorcycle, etc, eat good food (discounted thanks to Zach), feel the fun energy all around us, scream till our voices are gone, watch the Nu skin dancers/cheerleaders (andrey's highlight of the night lol), and then, after a win, head over to Mc Ds for a free Big Mac. Life is good with Jazz!

Happy 50th Year Anniversary Grandma and Grandpa Simonson

2010-01-18T23:32:00.000-08:00

We were able to celebrate, with our family, Grandpa and Grandma Simonson's 50th year anniversary. That is amazing and they help motivate and get me excited to have that many great years with Andrey. It was a nice lunch and great company while we had cake and visited. Thank you for sharing your love grandma and grandpa!

New year

2010-01-18T23:25:00.000-08:00

Happy New year everyone. So many fun things went on during the new year week:
cleaned church-girls learned how to clean windows. but saw that the cleaner freezes when it is below 32 degrees. lol so we had fun writing designs on the window.
We had a late christmas party with the wolfs and big wolf's family. exchanging gifts, having an auction (that i was able to put together with the help of friends and family), breakfasts, lunches, christmas talent show, etc.
We had a hair cutting, dyeing, trimming party at my mom's house with cousin Nicole, eating dinner then all getting pampered and getting a new look. Emma and Ellie got a trim and I got my hair dyed again a red, black, purple color. It's always fun to get a new look for the new year.
New years day breakfast at Mc donalds. good food good company and had fun watching the girls play on the playground.
I got a new counselor in my young women's presidency. Lana Ricord. She is also the coach for basketball and volleyball .She is amazing and i am so grateful and blessed to have her in the presidency now. The young women will love her and i know there will be many great changes this year.
I have a new look. I got glasses after finding out that my eyes have an allergy to the de-protein in contacts,so i have to only wear the day-wear contacts and will wear those part time, and then wear my "daisy fuentes" brand glasses. I love them. They are black on the outside and then pink on the inside with pink gems on the sides. They are so fun and i am so grateful to be able to see after being blind for 3 months. Thank you Kathi and dave for the christmas gift!
We are starting a craft night that we hold once a month with all the girl cousins and aunts in my family. We had our first one in Jan. where nicole taught us origomi and we had brownies and other treats. It is nice to sit and visit-to get to know each other, and have a great time. I am excited to continue on this activity each month.

Merry Christmas!!!

2010-01-18T23:18:00.000-08:00

ok so it's very late, but now that the holidays are over, it's time to play catch up.
Our christmas was amazing. going to the glover's christmas eve and doing dinner then a gift exchange, only to be surprised by Destiny's boyfriend proposing to her by singing the 12 days of christmas and with the gift, surprising her with a ring. It was a sweet moment and we all felt so grateful to be part of it. They are getting married in March and Andrey and I had a great time going on a double date-bowling with them last week. They are amazing and we are so excited for Tad and Destiny.
We then spend christmas morning waking the girls up (not the other way around) and seeing that Santa had come and eaten his cookies and drank all his milk, and the reindeer had eaten their carrots, and led right into the wrapper wripping fest while they opened gifts getting princess toys, barbies, dora doll, babies, games, clothes, new shoes, barbie computer, princess Leap frog computer, movies, clothes, candy, bike helmet, etc. It was so fun to watch and to record that morning. The girls were so fun and so appreciative of all they got.
We headed up to Spanish fork, being so grateful that there was no snow storm, and enjoyed our time opening presents after a great lunch. I got money for getting new glasses. Andrey and the girls got some fun gifts and it was fun visiting with his mom, step dad, and siblings since we don't see them very often.
We then headed to my families where we opened presents while waiting for andrey's #2 turkey to fry up. We had fun opening up the presents in the stockings, getting toys and gift cards to our favorite restaraunts. We had a fun dinne and enjoyed watching the movie "Up". It was a great night and the girls are still getting into playing with all their new toys, and still finding quarters that grandma and grandpa sampson hid in their coloring books. We hope you all had a very merry christmas!

Christmas parties

2010-01-18T23:15:00.000-08:00

We have so many fun Christmas parties we go to each year. The girls had so much fun playing with family-cousins and aunts and uncles.
We had our ward christmas party where we did skits, Andrey sang Oh Holy Night, and had a great turkey dinner (which andrey fried the best turkey i have ever eaten in my life).
We also had the Brunson christmas pary where we eat a delicious catered dinner and then have a dice rolling gift stealing, hair pulling gift exchange. While the kids decorate sugar cookies (eat more candy than decorate) and have a white elephant gift exchange (with less hair pulling).
All these parties sure get us in the Christmas spirit.

Festival of trees

2010-01-18T23:11:00.000-08:00

It is a family tradition to go to festival of trees every year. we went the last day of the program, the beginning of december. it was so much fun to line up and wait to see santa. My parents have pictures from when I was 7 to now of our family, growing bigger and bigger every year, sitting with santa. then we, with candy canes in hand, start walking and looking at all the beautiful trees. Emma and ellie loved all the princess and pink trees. they love picking their favorite tree to stand by and for us to take their picture. we watch programs, buy treats, crafts, look at more trees, gingerbreak houses. my favorite gingerbread house this year was the one of an outhouse that said, "have a regular christmas." lol
We had a lot of fun, ending the day with Uncle Travis taking family pictures for us to send off with our Christmas cards.

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-01-18T23:06:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful thanksgiving visiting with family and friends. We got to go to Spanish fork and be with Andrey's mom and family. Great food. Always a favorite. Emma is having a fun time learning about all these different holidays. We also had a great dinner at Andrey's dad's and loved visiting with the family, drawing names for christmas, and holding all those cute new babies.
My family has the traditional lunch at my aunt's house with everyone. we go to eat good food and had fun visiting. i am so grateful for my family. i love them so much. it was fun to set up the tree while watching the parade on t.v. the girls had fun putting up the the decorations and feeling the christmas spirit. time to wrap presents.

New Moon

2009-11-21T18:13:00.000-08:00

I was invited by a friend and 3 others to go see the New Moon movie yesterday at 7 P.M. We were part of the Utah Mama's club. We were spoiled rotten. We got our tickets and waited in line but were amazed by the special treatment we got. They handed us out bags of goodies that had to do with the movie and being women (Jacob and Edward truffles, cupcakes with "Team Edward" or "Team Jacob" on them, magazines, M & Ms, lipgloss, fangs, etc.). It was so fun to watch this movie in a theater with just women. The oohs and ahhs were so funny to listen to, the cheering, the tissues being passed around and the tears that were shared (none by me lol) during certain scenes, and my favorite, as Jacob took off his shirt...the audience gasped in pleasure. It was so funny.
I loved the movie. It was so much better than the first seeing how there was a different director and a bigger budget to work with. The make up was better, the acting was better, and the special affects were awesome. I had a great time and I get to see it again with my jealous husband next week. I hope those that see it enjoy it!!!

It's A....(drum roll please)

2009-11-21T18:09:00.001-08:00

It's a girl. Wa,ha,ha,ha. Now little Oakley, Annie, or Adaley (sp?) (they don't have a name picked yet) get to play with her new cousins, Emma and Ellie. We are so excited for Robyn and Travis. And so excited to have another beautiful girl in our family. Because we would have no clue what to do with a boy.

Congrats Green Family!!!

Is it a boy or a girl?

2009-11-19T09:30:00.000-08:00

Some of you may not know, but my sister, Robyn, and her husband, Travis, are expecting their first baby in April. Today is the day that they get to find out what they are having. As Travis puts it, "Boy, girl, or alien." He said the first ultra sound made the baby look like an alien. Well, Travis, if it takes after you, it will for sure be an alien. =0)

So, make your guesses and I will post what they are having......

Hint: Robyn has all sisters and all neices and she is really small right now.... so that's why I think it may be a girl.

on the other hand....

Travis has all brothers and all nephews.....so that makes me want to guess that it's a boy.....

Christmas Letter

2009-11-11T22:18:00.000-08:00

Now i know it's a little early, but I don't have everyone's addresses, so I am going to post the letter we are going to mail out this Christmas. That way whoever reads this blog (if there is anyone that reads it. lol) will not feel left out and have a month to read it before Christmas . We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, Christmas, and a happy new year!!!:

Glover Family 2009 Letter (with family photo attached...but that will be on here after it's taken):

Happy Holidays!!! I really cannot believe another year has come and gone. We have had so many ups and downs. I can say that having two kids makes life very interesting. Let me share in on some events of this year:
Andrey’s company, A&M General Contractors picked up and he is soon going to be building a car dealership and a restaurant-right here in Magna. We are so grateful for his amazing work partner, Mark and his family. Mark is such a blessing in Andrey’s life and he is learning so much from him and is blessed to have him as a work partner. We love his family and have enjoyed getting to know them over the last few years. Along with his side jobs, Andrey just got hired on at Premier Mentoring, where he is their new Security and Mechanical Manager. He loves it so far and I love the part about having benefits. Andrey works so hard and we love and appreciate him so much. He is so talented and amazing at sharing those talents and his time with friends and family in need.
He is still the Young Mens president and loves the young men in our ward. They had a lot of fun recently with the Corn maze during Halloween, swimming, bowling, shooting, and many camp outs during the summer.
He continues to work on our house, getting the vinyl fence up, half our grass planted, and some landscaping done. We had fun with our new pool in the backyard, throwing many parties for friends and my family. It is fun to have a backyard that can accommodate those fun memories. Andrey was able to participate in many ways with the new temple ( Draper and the Oquirrh Moutain temple) open houses. He got to do security, clean the inside, etc. The temples are such blessings in our lives and to be able to have them so close to us and visit them often has been a blessing. We are so grateful to have the gospel in our lives. Andrey and I were so excited to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. We are so excited to have many great memories together and hope to continue on-forever!!!!
Holli (that’s me) is grateful to still be able to stay home with the girls. Andrey has been working so hard to make it possible. I watch kids during day. Baby Kyler, Adam, Matthew, Abby, Ayden, and soon Baby Sarah. Not all at the same time, no worries, but we sure do love having all those little children playing at our house each day. It is fun to have kids to entertain and watch them interact with Emma and Ellie. The girls are ready for a baby sister or brother (no, I’m not hinting anything...not just yet).
I am also still serving as our ward’s Young Women’s President and love, love, love our young women. We had a great New beginnings program last Jan. And welcomed in about 7 new young women making our group from 5 to 12 active girls. We love how big our group has grown. We also had our Young Women and Excellence program last week and I got all teary eyed watching how much my young women (yes, mine. Lol) have grown since we moved in 4 years ago. They have matured so much-and work so hard at getting their Personal progress completed. They are some of my greatest examples. I love this calling so much.
We had a great summer with many fun family reunions going to Mount Pleasant and Idaho. We had a blast participating in the Fillmore Art’s Festival. We welcomed new nephews and nieces to our family. And were excited to welcome back our cousin, Spencer, who came home from his mission in Scotland. But sadly, two of our grandpa’s passed away. We love Grandpa Dean Brunson and Grandpa Vernon Wolf so much and will remember them and their Christlike examples always.
Andrey and I were blessed and able to go on our Stakes Trek this summer as the Ma and Pa. That was an amazing experience, learning about the Pioneers. We have such a special place in our hearts for all our ancestors who crossed the plains and made it to Zion, our Great Salt Lake Valley. But before we left on the trek, I had my week of "firsts": I had my first root canal and my first car accident (it was not my fault, I promise), but leaving on trek made it all worth it!
(Side note:) We are so excited to have Robyn, my sister, expecting her’s and Travis’ first baby. She is due in April and we are so excited to have a baby cousin for Emma and Ellie to play with. Congrats to the Green family!
Emma turned 4 this year, but she is still the most stubborn girl and will not give up wearing diapers, so if anyone would like to take her for a few days and teach her how...I will gladly giver her up for that short period of time.
Emma started out the year with 6 cavities. Yes, I said 6. She was the bravest girl and went to the dentist 2 times to get them filled. She didn’t cry or complain once. They were so great with her (Aloha Dental) and were also proud of her bravery. She only complained when they got in her way of watching the movie. Ha. Ha. The only thing she didn’t like was the numbness she felt after. She kept asking me to take the cotton out of her cheek, but I had to explain to her that there was no cotton in her mouth, but that it was her mouth being numb and it would only last a little bit longer.
Emma loves princesses and colors them, dresses up like them (She was Sleeping Beauty for Halloween), sings like them, etc. She makes me call her "Princess Emma" and loves the attention she gets when she dresses up in Grandma Sampson’s dress ups .
Emma was going to start preschool this year, but after realizing that her birthday was past the deadline and she would not be starting Kindergarten till she was 6, we decided to wait another year so she wouldn’t get too far ahead. She is such a "smarty". She can count to twenty on her own, she recognizes all her letters and can write most of them. She wants to start learning to read, so we love to go to the library weekly and go to Story Time and then check out her favorite books (yes, Princess books as well as "Fancy Nancy").
Emma also loves to ride her new princess bike she got for her birthday, but can’t get too far ahead of her little shadow, Ellie.
She loves being mommie’s little helper watching all the kids. She helps feed the babies, making them laugh by laying next to them and making faces, singing, and talking to them.
Emma is an amazing big sister and loves Ellie so much. She loves, mostly, to tease and fight with Ellie. But they are also best friends and are a joy to watch together.
Ellie turned 2 this year. She is my beautiful blonde, and we still don’t know where she got that blonde hair from. She loves her long curly hair and always brushes and plays with it.
Her first exciting this she did was get pushed into a cement wall by Emma (who was swinging) and had to go to Primary Children’s Hospital (our second home) and get her top two teeth pulled. She has the cutest gappy smile now. We like to sing, "All I want for Christmas are my two front teeth...." She was such a brave girl and let me take her to the dentist a few times and then to the hospital. Her mouth healed quickly, and she was back to falling and running into things-our normal Ellie.
Ellie loves Princesses, like Emma, but mostly adores Tinkerbell. That is what she dressed up as for Halloween. This was her first year of really understanding how "Trick-or-treating" worked. She learned quickly that you take the candy and put it in the bucket, but for her, she would give me the bucket, walk up to the door, and take the candy after saying "thank you" she would shove it into her mouth and walk onto the next house. She loved Halloween.
Ellie’s favorite person in the world right now is her big sister Emma. When Emma is gone at a party or in primary, Ellie will continually ask, "Where Emma go?" And when she finally sees her, they run to each other and give the biggest hug imaginable. It is the sweetest thing. I hope this phase never ends.
Ellie and Emma got their first pet this year. A frog they named Giselle (from "Enchanted"). They love to feed her worms and watch her jump around in her tank. But they do not like to change the tank because she always gets lose and we have to try to catch her as she jumps around the kitchen. Dad is always the quickest one to catch her. They love having a pet to look after.
We are so blessed to have our family and friends so close to us and are so grateful for all your support and examples. We pray that you find as much happiness that this year has granted us. May you feel the love and spirit of our Savior this Christmas holiday and know that we love you. We have a family blog you can keep in touch with us with: holli-gloverfamily.blogspot.com.
Love, Andrey, Holli, Emma, and Ellie Glover

Welcome Kaleb Joseph Neuenkirch

2009-11-11T22:12:00.001-08:00

Welcome to the family, baby Kaleb. Harmony and David had Kaleb today. He was delivered C-section and was 7 lbs. 3 ouces. and 19 inches long. He is beautiful (can I say that about a baby boy?) Well, he is adorable. There are some complications but we pray that mom and baby are doing well and are so excited to meet this handsome baby. Congratulations Neuenkirchs.

It's been a while

2009-11-11T21:58:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I am playing a little catch up with you all. I have been slacking. It has been busy around here with me watching baby Kyler every day for 12 hours. It doesn't leave much computer time...but now that it's oh so quiet, I will catch you all up from the last month:
Andrey got a new job (yes, a REAL job, with real money and real benefits). He is working at Premier Mentoring as their Security and Mechanical Manager. He loves it so far and loves the people he works with. I love the hours. 7-4 or 8-5 Monday through Friday. This gives him time to work his company on his hours off and on the weekends, so he can get those side jobs done. Merry Christmas to us!!! This year is turning out to be amazing with many great blessings and opportunities.
Ellie and Emma had a fun Halloween. We went full out on our yard with scary decorations, spider webs, fog machines, and black lights. I dressed up as the devil one night (party) and as a Greek Godess on Halloween. Andrey was the grim reaper with a chrome skull face. His mask was so scary and really scared Ellie to tears. It was kinda funny. Ellie was Tinkerbell (but without the wings. She didn't care for those) and Emma was, of course, Sleeping Beauty. But it took trying on about 15 other costumes before she decided...and it was the same one as last year. go figure! Ellie learned quickly how to work out the whole candy in the bucket and loved trick or treating. Emma was a good teacher. But Ellie would hand me her bucket, walk up to the door. get the candy, and after saying thank you she would shove it in her mouth and walk onto the next house. It was so funny to watch. We had my family over for chili and snacks and watched Goosebumps movies while handing out candy to the neighbor kids (and scaring a few of them . Wa, ha,ha,ha). We had a fun Halloween and the girls had a great time too, getting lots of good candy.
We quickly fell in love with the new WinKo (sp?) store down 5600 W. It is so close to us and has so many great sales. I honestly think we were there almost every night since they opened. And I have saved more shopping there than anywhere else. So, maybe I will see one of you there tomorow. ha,ha.
My sister, Bailee, turned SWEET 16 on the 22nd. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAILEE!!! Her first date was with Zach Roose (her crush) and they had a great time, bowling and going to lunch and Golden Corral. She is such a babe and is so excited to have all those cute boys after her...and have it be legal now. It is so fun to see her growing up. She is so beautiful and so mature...when she chooses to be. Her next hot date is this weekend. Go bug!!!!
Our dear friend, Jamie Roose (Emma and Ellie's nursery teacher and one of our close friends) left on her misson last week to Atlanta Georgia. We are so excited for her and will miss her so much. We had a great time visiting with her and other friends at her amazing Open house. Her farewell was amazing and it really helped me refocus on where I am and concentrating on being a missionary and being worthy of having the spirit with me.
I had my Young WOmen and Excellence program last week and it was such a great success watching the beautiful young women present their projects they have been working on all year. They are amazing. I love them so much and am grateful for their examples. I have the best calling in the whole world.

Welcome Elder Chatland!!!

2009-10-03T21:33:00.000-07:00

My cousin, Elder Spencer Chatland came home after serving for two years in Scotland. We were so excited to have him back. He is so fun and we have missed him greatly...especially Andrey who needs another boy in the family (my mom's side consists of 3 nephews and Spencer was one of them). We were all screaming and attacking Spencer at the airport, and the poor boy didn't know what to do, who we all were, and how to react. Especially when he saw his dad and big brother in a kilt. lol I loved it!
He had the coolest Scottish accent and I called him this week to say hi and just to hear it again. I love him so much and it is so good to have him home. I know he misses his mission and did some amazing work there and I hope he will remember that experience always. We are so excited to go to Fillmore next week and spend time with him and his family (and our other family memebers) and hear his homecoming talk.
Welcome home Elder Chatland!!!

General Conference!!!

2009-10-03T21:23:00.000-07:00

It' s time. We love conference time. To hear from our Prophet, President Monson and other general authorities.
We started the morning (Sat.) by taking Emma to the dentis to get her last 3 cavities filled (she did great) and came home and built a fort just in time for 10 A.M. to roll around.
I love the speakers, and as I was looking over my friend's blogs, I found this adorable General Conference Packet. It is this link. You will have to check it out. I am excited to use if for tomorrow's sessions...and share with my girls of course. lol:

www.ldsresource.net/october-2009-conference-activity-packet/

Go Utes!!!...Go Jazz!!!

2009-10-01T15:50:00.000-07:00

We had such a fun time on Sat. going to the Utah vs. Loisville game. Andrey, Zach, and me went, enjoying our dinner and the fans (minus the really drunk one next to us getting kicked out almost), and the cheering, Andrey's loud stomping on the bleachers. It was an awesome game and I am so glad that the Utes won...but who would have thought otherwise. lol
And tonight, we get to go to the Jazz game, since we got free tickets thanks to "Twitter". So me and my family will enjoy a fun night out. GO JAZZ!!! (I hope they win so I get my free Big Mac lol).

Fun anniversary

2009-09-21T08:52:00.000-07:00

Andrey and I were able to celebrate our 5th year anniversary this weekend. We stayed at the cute Wildflower bed and breakfast down town Salt Lake. We dropped the girls off at my parent's house and headed to Gateway for our traditional window shopping. We had fun going from store to store.

We went and saw "Love Happens." It has Jennifer Aniston in it and I loved it. Not a dry eye in the theater. When we were getting our dinner in the theater, we saw Elder Holland there with his wife. It was neat to see him....but what movie was he going to see? Hm...I wonder. LOL

We had a great stay at the bed and breakfast and headed off to the State fair where we walked from booth to booth and saw the exhibits and bought lots of fun toys for Emma and Ellie. We made our fun DI run (one of Andrey's favorite places to find treasures). We then went and picked up the girls (who were not so happy because they were swimming at Grandma's).

We then enjoyed a fun night at the adult session for our stake conference. We were blessed to have Elder Ballard there (it was supposed to be Elder Holland, but he has something else come us. I got to see him the night before so it was ok. lol).

We had the overflow at our church building for the Sunday session and our family listened there. The recording was not working, so every 15 min., someone would have to run over a tape of the session and then we would watch it there; so the conference was 30 min. behind the live session over at the high school. As Elder Ballard started his talk, the chapel side doors opened and in walked Elder Ballard. The recording was so bad because of all the background noise, so he had it turned off and he and Elder Keech (sp?) took a few minutes each and talked to us live. It was amazing the Spirit that was there and he was so sweet, he took the time after to shake each our hands. Emma was so excited. She was waving her little hand at him the whole time and ran right up to him to shake his hand. I am glad the girls got this exeprience to meet a memeber of the 12 apostles, and to feel of his spirit and hear his words.

Elder Ballard spoke (as well as the other speakers) about how precious our children are and how much we should love them. He told a story about a mother who came up to him when he was speaking at another stake conf. and she said her little son was so excited to hear from him (Elder Ballard) that he wanted to call his grandpa as soon as he got home to tell him that he heard from an apostle. Finally, with his mother's permission, he called his grandpa. He said, "Grandpa, I got to hear from an 'old fossil' today!!!" It was so cute and so funny to hear Elder Ballard's response to this sweet little boy.
I am so grateful for the opportunity we all had to hear from a messanger of the Lord and to be blessed, taught, and guided by him. We are so lucky to have a living prophet today!

Happy 4th Birthday Emma!

2009-09-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

My baby is 4 today!!! And she knows it. She has a chain that she tears off every night till it's her birthday and last night she was ready to celebrate!!!

She is extra smiley and extra hyper. She is so fun and can't wait for her party tonight. We are going to my Grandpa and Grandma's house and having the party in the back yard. It is the funnest yard. It has tetherball, swingset, play houses, trampoline, basketball court, horseshoes, on half an acre, and Emma gets to have a train there so the kids get to have a train ride. Aunt Jennifer is making her a Baribie princess cake so she is very excited...especially about her Princess bike (which was supposed to be a surprise). lol

Emma is the sweetest thing. Such a big heart, and a big mouth, full of stories and loves to sing, dance, learn every day, loves to draw, and arrange flowers. She is my baby and I am so proud of her. She is growing up so fast and is so beautiful. I am so glad I get to spend this fun day with her.

Happy 5th Anniversary

2009-09-17T20:47:00.000-07:00

Happy 5 year anniversary Andrey!!!

I am so glad that I worked at Oakcrest for 3 years and became friends with his sister and got to write him while he was on his mission. I then was asked to sing at his homecoming and the weekend after we met for the first time he asked me out and we were inseperable since then. A year and a few months after, we got sealed in the Salt Lake temple, September 21, 2004. That was the best day ever for him and me.

I love him so much. He is the only one that can be with me all the time and still love me. LOL. He is so patient, forgiving, honest, hard working, honors his priesthood, loves me all the time, respects me and women. He is an amazing father and loves his daughters. I love to watch them play together. They just adore him. He is my best friend and I am the luckiest woman alive. I am so happy that we have had an exciting 5 years and I am so glad I get to spend forever with him.

Random

2009-09-11T08:17:00.001-07:00

Grandpa Dean's funeral

Nephew Easton and Grandpa Bart. I

love Easton. He is the cutest baby.

I could just bite his cheeks. lol

My beautiful Niece, Kennedy.

Ellie loves her nap time.

Emma trying out her camera skills.

She loves to take pictures. lol

Owen's birthday party. The girls

are having a tea party with their

birthday goodies. Love to dress up.

Family at Magna parade. So much

candy!!!

Boating, water skiiing, picnicing trip

with family.

Many train rides this year (Emma

is excited for her 4th birthday cause

she gets the train at her party)!

Silly Ellie sleeps in the sillies places.

Ellie stripping to go swimming

at Grandma's house.

Again, Ellie will sleep anywhere.lol

Emma and Ellie getting airplane

rides on Bailee and Kaycee's feet.

WEEE!!! Silly Girls.

Counsins playing.

Family Sunday walk. Ellie is so

confused as to why the little boy is

going to the bathroom outside.

she is trying to figure it out....lol

Emma posing in her dressu

Ellie showing off her pretty pink

dance outfit to Grandma. She

loves to dress up like big sister,

Emma
Pretty, pretty Ellie.

"All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth"

2009-09-09T20:03:00.000-07:00

Well, they did it. They pulled out Ellie's two front teeth.
We got to primary children's hospital and again, I was amazed at how great the employees and rooms are with children. There are toys and the rooms are amazing where it sets a wonderful environment for little nervous children. Ellie had a great time while we were waiting for the dentist to see her.
She thought the chair was so cool until they tried to get her to lay back, so all the work was done right there with Ellie in my lap. Yup, I got to see it all-front row seats and everything.
The dentist wanted to wiggle her teeth first and see how loose they were and if they could save them, but as he wiggled the front four, he saw that the front two pretty much fell out at his touch, and the other two (after an x-ray) would have to wait and see if the body declined them or not. So after Ellie was so brave and closed her eyes and got a shot (she didn't cry until the last two seconds and then it was over) he quickly pulled out the two teeth and Ellie was so happy when they gave her a big sticker and a toy turtle. She was also more excited to get her own baggy with her two teeth in them, cotton swabs for her mouth (which only she could hold in there, not mom and dad), and her instructions paper for us. She smiled at us all the way home while she was scratching away at her nose and face because of the numbing agent. She was so brave and I am glad to see that she only lost two of her teeth.
Now we need to give her antibiotics for her gums to stay clean and the infections to go away. So ms. "Dragon Breath" can get fully better.
She had a fun day getting lots of icecream, popsicles, and frozen smoothies.
At bedtime, I got to read Emma and Ellie a book about the "Toothfairy" and we put Ellie's teeth under her pillow and they are excited to see what the "Toothfairy" leaves for her in the morning. Emma is a little scared to have the "Toothfairy" come into her room, but I reassured her that she was nice and will only come after she is asleep since she is so busy with other children's teeth, she won't be able to stop and visit.
It is weird that I am getting my kids ready for the "toothfairy" when they are only 2 and 4. . . shouldn't it be another 2 to 5 more years till I have to do this. lol. And what is even more weird, is that Ellie lost teeth before Emma.
Well, what an intersting week and I hope we get a break for a while.
But I am so grateful for Primary Children's Hospital and their kindness and all that they do for so many people. (Pictures will be posted soon).

Ellie's Labor Day

2009-09-08T21:48:00.001-07:00

So after all the drama of Ellie and her new inhaler, her bump-in with the tile and bloody mouth and crooked tooth;we were at my aunt's house having a barbeque and celebrating the birth of my cousin, Tyson's son (Keenan, he is adorable) and visiting. While the kids were eating and swinging....I heard Bailee yell out and looked over my shoulder to see Ellie fly into the cement wall and fall hard. She had walked behind Emma when Emma was swinging and got pushed into the wall. She got up and there was blood everywhere. More blood than I have seen in my whole life. I thought for sure that she had bitten her tongue off or something. We ran her inside to get the blood to stop and after an hour it calmed down enough to get a good look. She cut her lip up all over the place and her top teeth (again) were banged up and her gums were a disaster. There was still too much blood to see how much damage was done and her lip and face were swelling up quickly. After giving her some Tylonol and getting her wrapped up in a blanket, we headed home where a long night (but a nice preisthood blessing) awaited us. She was miserable and her mouth would not stop bleeding.
The next morning after a bath, she was dancing, running, climbing all over the place like nothing happened. She was still too swollen so I couldn't look into her mouth, so we went to the dentist as soon as they opened. She was so cute and smiled and waved at everyone.
The dentist said to keep an eye on her and to wait to hear back from the Pediatric dentist at Primary Children's Hospital that day.
We got a call and they want to see her tomorrow. They said it sounds like she won't keep her top two teeth and they might have to look at her lips as well and do x rays to make sure nothing in her face broke (her nose is sore and swollen as well).
Right before Ellie and Emma's naptime, her swelling went down enough for me to look up in her mouth.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<(SORRY FOR THOSE WITH WEAK STOMACHS)>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Her top teeth were exposed all the way and her gums are all black, purple, and mushy. They are just shredded up all over and it looks so bad. And don't get me going about the smell. Andrey says she has "Dragon Breath." She doesn't even seem to care. She eats just fine (we give her soft foods) and she plays normal and is happy....I don't get it.
I can't wait to see what they can do to help her with tomorrow.
Updates tomorrow.
Oh, and Happy Labor Day to all those dentists we are putting to work. And our poor accident-prone child whom Andrey says will always have to wear a helmet. Never a dull moment at the Glover's.

On a positive note, we to to go to the hospital and see out new cousin. Keenan, born to Tyson and Kidist. He is so beautiful and we are so excited to have him in our family.

Hair Party

2009-09-02T08:11:00.000-07:00

My cousin, Nicole, does a great job working on hair. I wanted my hair darkened and Emma's hair cut, so we planned a hair party. I made dinner and we had my whole family and some friends, and Nicole's family there. The table was set looking like it was Thanksgiving Day and we had a fun time at dinner and then the hair cutting and coloring began. Robyn got her hair trimmed (and a cut perm), I got my hair darkened with red in it and then layers put in (and "sexy bangs' so Robyn calls them), Bailee got her hair trimmed, Dad got his hair cut, Emma got an A-line cut and bangs into "sexy bangs", Ellie got her bangs trimmed (I want to grow out her blonde curly hair), Aunt Arlene got her hair colored. My mom got her hair trimmed ( I think), and we had a fun time visiting and laughint together. I love my new hair and am always excited for change. Thanks, Nicole!

Emma's two new friends

2009-09-02T07:33:00.000-07:00

In order for Emma to go to headstart, she had to see a doctor and dentist for those screenings and checkups.
She was great at the doctors and we just did her 4 year old checkup along with it. She got to cover each eye and read the chart. It was so cute to see her take steps closer to the poster whithout realizing it, so we had to keep moving her back. She really knew her shapes really well. She then had to change into the paper gown that she called a "big napkin" and she did not like it at all. She felt so naked. Before we arrived, she told me, "Mom, I will be so mad if you tell the doctor I still wear diapers and pullups." I told her that maybe she should start going on the toilet all the time and not just when she felt like it. . .As she was lying down on the bed, the doctor looked under her gown to check her hips and legs and she said, "Uh oh. Emma is still wearing diapers?" Emma gave me the dirtiest look ever. I just laughed and told her that I didn't tell the doctor, but that she saw on her own. Emma didn't talk to me for a while after that. I am just glad that she is very healthy...now if we could only get her to be full time potty trained. Anyone want to take her for a week to do so? lol
At the dentist I told Emma what would happen so she wouldn't be scared. She was such a big girl and was so brave. I am so mad I forgot my camera. She climbed right on the chair and did exactly what the dentist asked her to do. She wasn't scared or shy and talked to him really well.
Now you are probably wondering who Emma's two new friends are? No, it's not the doctor and dentist, it's her two new cavities that appeared on her back molar. Now we get to go visit the funnest place ever-"Aloha Dental." Emma is excited to go and I hope these cavities don't ruin her dental experience for the rest of her life. I will have to remember the camera for this visit also.

Emma gets to go to school

2009-09-02T07:29:00.000-07:00

Last year I did preschool with Emma and she learned so much. She learned to count to twenty, she can write most her letters and knows her alphabet. She can spell anything if we tell her how to spell it. I am so glad she is familiar with her letters. Next we want to have her try sounding out letters and reading.
My mom said I was probably going to make her bored when she went into Kindergarten because she was moving too quickly, so I decided to stop and put her into Headstart where she could be with other kids. Poor Emma has her birthday in September so she misses the deadline to start preschool when she is 5. She will be a big smart 6 year old when she finally goes into school. I want her to have a good experience with school and other children and learn the social skills she needs, and to have a break from mom (even though I will miss her), so we signed her up for Headstart. I hope she has a great time. She has always wanted to go to schoold. =0)

Month of pain

2009-09-02T07:27:00.001-07:00

We had a family reunion dinner (in memory of my grandpa who just passed away a few weeks ago) and while we were playing volleyball, I hyperextended my elbow. How did I do it? I'm not sure. I just hit the ball too hard, I guess. It was two weeks ago and it still hurts to lift anything, straighten my arm, or bend it all the way. The only problem is that I'm left handed and it was my left arm. If anyone has done something like this, what can I do (not put it in a sling, because I have to use it. I'm a mom....silly)?

Poor Poor Ellie

2009-09-02T07:19:00.000-07:00

Ellie has had a bad week and it's only Wed. morning. Sunday night Ellie was up all night couging and throwing up. I didn't know what was wrong. Andrey finally said, I think she's having an asthma attack. He has the same thing happen during his. Ellie has allergies and they have been acting up because of this horrible air.
I thought she was too young to have asthma so i took her in to the pediatrition and he checked her oxygen level and for weezing but said she sounded just fine. After hearing her cough and hearing my explanation of her symptoms, he gave us an inhaler and chamber to try. It has worked so far, and we have tried to keep her indoors as much as possible. I am so sad for her because she is only 2.
Then Tuesday morning, I was on the phone and i heard a loud thud and saw Ellie laying on her tummy on the tile floor (now Ellie falls and gets hurt a lot-she's a little clutz like me). I picked her up and hugged her and layed her down in her favorite spot. She was still crying and I saw that I had blood on my hand. She was bleeding so bad on her mouth and neck. I washed her off and saw that her teeth were pushed in a wierd position and her gums were all beat up. Her lip was already swollen and hurt in three places. How did she do that?!!
Afte she was complaining for hours about the pain I finally took her into the dentist. He looked at her and said she looked really sore. I told him I would conitinue to give her Tylonol. He said to watch for discoloration in her teeth and any bubbles in her gums and to bring her in when Emma goes in for her appointment in two weeks.
This morning when Ellie woke up and came into the livingroom, I just had to laugh. Her whole upper lip and mouth below her nose are swollen so much that she can't even smile. I can't lift up her lip to see her teeth. It is rock hard.
I feel so terrible and I hope she gets better soon. The only good thing to this is she can't suck on her binky because her mouth is in the way and it won't fit. lol Maybe this is how we will get her off her favorite bad habit!

Letter

2009-08-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

For friends and family:
Vernon Joseph Wolf, husband, father, brother, and grandfather died on Friday, August 21, 2009 at 4:34 P.M. at his home surrounded by family and loved ones.
~Irene Wolf

Rough Camp

2009-08-21T12:41:00.000-07:00

Andrey and I were able to go to our Young women's rough camp. It was so fun. We had Sarah Roose as our camp director and me and my counselors went up with Andrey and Lawrence Hopper as the priesthood leaders. Lawrence brought his wife and two kids and it was so fun to spend time and play with them. We stayed at the Spruces up Big Cottonwood Canyon. We went hiking up Silver Lake. It is so beautiful. The ponds and lake are amazing, the greenery and flowers are so pretty, and all the rock formations and just the whole area is breath taking. If you have not been there I suggest you go.
We then set up camp while our Fairy Godmother (one of my counselors) went around and left gifts for the girls.
Let me back track a little. Our theme was "Princess: Find the royal within you." with the scripture being Romans 8:16-17 (I think...lol). It was mainly for the girls to focus on their divine nature and to know that they truly are princesses, heirs to God, and were beautiful and had so much to offer to the rest of us. They have a Heavenly Father who loves them and knows each of them and we wanted them to leave knowing that they are truly loved daughters of a Heavenly Father.
We had crafts that each of us, as leaders, were over. They made wands out of the large pixie sticks, tiaras out of the shiny pipe cleaner, colored castly key chains, made princess picture frames to put their pictures in, and made mail boxes out of decorated paper bags. We then strung the bags from tree to tree so they could leave notes and secret sister gifts in them as they wanted.
We had an amazing dinner, eating Navajo tacos and enjoying the cutest speaker. Her name was Carolyn Kemp. She dressed up as the Fairy Godmother and danced and acted out the song to Shrek 2 (where the fairy godmother sings to Fiona). It was so cute and she then talked to them about how to be princesses, finding their prince that can take them to the temple, and other dating standards. She then focused the rest of the evening on their love and beauty as daughters of God. I was so impressed with her and know that the girls enjoyed her and hopefully will take the time to have a relationship with their Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ, and come to know of their true potential as daughters of God.
We had s'mores and went snipe hunting with our 4 girls and one leader that have never been. It was so fun to scare and surprise them. I love snipe hunting. lol
We ended the night by singing softly around the camp fire.
The next morning, after cleaning up camp and eating omlets for breakfast, we played games, where each leader was over a game. We played scripture charades. We would split up into two teams and each one would act out the scripture story while the other team tried to guess which one it was. We had so much fun and saw how creative the girls are. And how well they do...or don't....know their scripture stories. lol
We then played a game called "Spud" where everyone is given a number. The person up throws a ball in the air while yelling out a number. The person who's number is called runs up and catches the ball or retrieves it and yells "SPUD!". Meanwhile, the rest of the players are running while the ball is thrown in the air and when "SPUD!" is yelled, they must freeze where they are. The person who's number is called then is able to take three steps towards someone and throws the ball at them. The person who is getting the ball thrown at themself can dodge the ball by ducking, but cannot move their feet. If they get tagged, they are up and are given the letter "S" if they are not tagged, the person that was up returns to the front and throws the ball in the air. You are out once you spell out the word "SPUD". It was such a fun game and worked well with our girl who was in a wheelchair. I was so glad that she was able to participate in all our activities. Of course, a waterfight broke out in the middle of this game between the girls and the priesthood leaders and we had so much fun with our water war.
We then ended the games with playing human knot where everyone grabs someone elses' hand and tries to get back into a circle, and then playing a few rounds of "Big Buddah." we left camp at 1 and returned to one of my counselor's houses and had lunch and a talent show where the young women got to show off their talents and what made them unique and special. We had many sing, show drawings, gymnastics, pantemiming (sp?) and clogging. We had such a fun time and this camp is one I will always remember.

Cont. Busy busy month

2009-08-21T12:32:00.000-07:00

I didn't want to have one extremely long post, so I thought I would split this month up into a few so it makes for easier reading.
After my Grandpa Deans death, we realized that Heavenly Father must need lots of His children back with Him because there are so many deaths around us recently, and sadly enough, while I was at my rough camp this week (another post), my grandpa Vern Wolf suffered a terrible stroke and we are just waiting for him to return Home. I am so torn. I know he is ready to be with my grandma, but is sad to leave his wife he is with right now. I am sad because he means so much to me and the rest of the family. He keeps us all so close by having family get togethers at his home. He is known for his amazing backyard. We play basketball, tetherball, swing, volleyball, horseshoes, his fun trampoline, etc. Our family loves to be together and Grandpa and his children always make it possible. I will be so sad to have things change.
He is the best grandpa. I remember seeing pictures of me and my cousin when we were little sitting on his back while he let us brush his hair (or what was left of it) and put clips and bows in it. He is so loving and family has always been the most important thing to him. He is such a hard worker, always serving those around him and building and fixing things. He is the handy man. I love him so much and will be so sad to not have him there to lay on his tramp with and look at the starts. We are all so lucky to have such amazing grandparents to look up to and love.

Busy, busy month

2009-08-21T12:25:00.001-07:00

What a busy month.
It started with my fun birthday. I have Ellie and Emma's birthday right around mine so I always forget my birthday. This year my family made it a memorable and nice one. We had Sunday dinner at my mom's and they had the table mats made out of paper with questions on them about me. We went around the table and I would have to answer the questions. We had an amazing dinner, and a fun night visiting, presents (I got the movie I have been waiting to get- "Mama Mia." I love the music on that show). Andrey then took me out to lunch on Monday, to Letheryby's. We got to double with his work partner, Mark, and his wife, Daisy (it was also her birthday). What a fun family. We sure love that family. We then went and saw a movie. It was a nice, layed back day and I loved being able to spend it with Andrey.
Our good friend, Zach bought us tickets to the Bees game for my birthday, so that was a fun thing to look forward to that week also. The birthday surprises just kept showing up. We are also going to my families in Draper and Spanish Fork for a later birthday dinner(s). I love spending time with my families. We are so lucky to have such amazing families too.
On a sad note, we also had the funeral for our Grandpa, Grandpa Dean. He is an amazing man and it was the best funeral I have been to, to hear about all he had done to bless the lives of those around him. Andrey and I (as well as the rest of the grandchildren) were asked to sing two numbers, "I know my Father lives" and "I need thee every hour." It was so beautiful. Many said it sounded like angels were singing (now I am not sounding cawkey because I couldn't sing I was so emotional. It truly did sound amazing, and that angels really were amongst us). The services and lunch were great and my girls were so cooperative and did such a good job so Andrey and I were able to participate in all the family get togethers. It was so fun to be able to go to Chuck A Rama in behalf of Grandpa, since that was his favorite place to eat. It was fun to think of him, talk about the memories and ways that he blessed us all so much through his testimony and Christ like example.

Go BEES!!!

2009-08-08T10:33:00.000-07:00

"Take me out to the ball game. Take me out to the Bees. Buy me a hot dog and churro please, I don't care if ....." ok, you get the picture. Ha,ha.

Our good friend, Zach surprised us (me) with tickets (for my birthday) to the Bees game. We went last night and it was so nice. Not to mention that the weather was perfect from the nice rain we got. The seats were awesome. The food was good, and the company was the best. We had a fun time watching the Bees kick (well, hit...with a bat) bum (lol). It was a close game, but they were awesome. And I was so impressed with the pitchers. They could pitch over 90 mph most the time. That is so cool. The fastest I ever got was 42. lol

Family Reunion

2009-08-01T22:51:00.001-07:00

We had such a great time going to our family reunion (my mom's side). We went to Twim Falls, Idaho.
We got to take our camper (that we got for free) and camp out at a nice KOA for 5 days. The girls were so excited to travel and did great on the long 4 hour drive. They had their toys and movies that entertained them the whole way.
We did lots of swimming at the KOA swmming pool and were able to go to the Snake River and take the boat out, go water skiiing, rafting, play in the sand, sunbathe...er....sun burn. lol, We got to see the Ice Caves, Volcanoes, See the Shashone Falls. They are so beautiful. They are taller than Niagra Falls and were amazing. I will get pictures on here once we get the camera back, and Andreys phone (which also has pictures on it from our trip). We had a fun time making meals together and eating together, playing volleyball, miniature golf, going paddle boating, watched movies, etc. It was a nicwe, relaxing reunion and we had a fun time as a family. I love my family and we always have a good time together.
(pictures soon to come). Our girls had a blast and are still talking about it.

My baby is 2

2009-07-23T08:30:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Ellie. We had a fun day with family, opening presents, swimming, having Tinkerbell cake and icecream. I can't believe she is two now. We love our Ellie so much!

Pioneer Trek

2009-06-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

Andrey and I had the greatest experiences going on our Pinoeer trek this last week.

We were asked to be the Ma and Pa and loved getting to know the youth a little better, and for them to have a stronger relationship with one another.

We had 19 of us (youth and leaders) go to the boarder of Utah and Wyoming (a nice 2 hour drive).

We walked with our handcarts anywhere from 13-17 miles the first day. It was so beautiful and fun to see how the kids worked together. It was hard, but fun to have all that time to be outside-away from technology, cell phones, etc.

We had many laughs and jokes played on one another. We would have our occasional potty stops and site seeing stops along the way, as well as "MA and PA moments" where Andrey and I would talk about people that we learned about in the "Journal of The Trail" book. There were so many sad, encouraging, faithful stories that we learned about. We had each youth walk for someone we read about and it was neat to see them take on that role as they walked this week. They would take turns sharing their story of who they were and what they did that stood out to them.

We had a womens pull the second day. It was a silent walk and then the young men were tapped off one at a time and waited at the top of the steep hill while us women pulled that handcarts by ourselves. We had such a hard time.

Our first handcart made it and then while I was waiting for them to come help me get mine up, I thought about those mothers and women who lost their husbands and sons because they gave up their food to their children and wives so they could live longer, and because of that, they died; leaving the mothers to take charge. What amazing, faithful women they were.

When my young women finished with their handcart-getting it to the top, they didn't just walk to help me, but they ran, and together we made it to the top where the men were crying and trying so hard not to help us. We split off into wards and the men shared their feelings from the experience. It was touching to hear how much love they have for us and for women in general.

We had many storms, but were blessed with a beautiful rainbow and sunset.

The cold and weather also helped us better understand what the pioneers felt a little as they pressed onward throught the snow, without shoes, coats, blankets, etc. We felt more gratitude and complained less when we were given cold cereal and pb and j sandwiches. We have so much right now and our Savior and Heavenly Father loves us so much.

I loved this experience and the other ones we also had while we were there.

I love my ward and the youth in it hold a special place in my heart.

I hope to be able to go again in 4 years on our next trek.

Whistle While you Work

2009-06-18T18:59:00.000-07:00

Andrey and Zach (our adopted family member) are working on the truck that Andrey got from our old neighbor. They are having lots of fun getting all dirty. Just last night Zach looked at his barely dirtied hands and said, "I think this is the dirtiest I've ever been." LOL.
It's fun to see them working together. Andrey loves doing stuff like this and is glad to have Zach along for the ride. Here are some beginning pictures and then I will keep posting them as the work progresses.

Baby Adam

2009-06-18T18:54:00.000-07:00

We are so lucky to get to watch Baby Adam, my friend, Jamii's son. He is so fun. He is about 9 months now ( I think) and he is the funnest baby. He is always smiling and gives the best hugs and open mouth kisses. LOL. I just wanted to post about this cute boy whom we just love and adore. We are excited to meet his little sister, Sarah/Sara, in a few months. Thanks Jamii for sharing your cute boy!

Pretty, Pretty Princesses

2009-06-17T11:07:00.000-07:00

While families in our ward went to the temple open house to help, I got to watch their kids. We had so much fun watching Princess movies and dressing up and dancing. One of Emma's favorite friends is Micaela aka Ella. They were so cute together and had a fun time.

Emma hanging

2009-06-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

I was a our young women's activity last night while Andrey and the young men were outside getting our tents ready for Trek (next week. YAHOO!!!). Andrey looked at the window to check on the girls who were playing in the living room when he saw Emma wrap the chord from the blinds around her neck. She started falling back and started screaming. He ran inside and saw that she had a red burn mark on her neck. WHAT WAS SHE THINKING?!!!

I could have the story wrong, but that's how he explained it. I got her and Ellie in the tub this morning and her neck was so swollen and red. I felt so bad. She said she will never do it again and that she was just trying to get something to hold onto while she was jumping on the couch.

(Ellie felt left out and wanted her picture taken too)

I showed Andrey how to throw the chords up on top of the blinds so the kids can't get to them. Poor kid.

Dressing up and Grandma's

2009-06-17T09:33:00.000-07:00

One of Emma and Ellie's favorite things to do at grandma's house is to dress up. Grandma has a big bin full of the prettiest dresses. The girls will try all of them on and show them off, feeling so beautiful and loving the flattery that all of us give them. Here were some fun pictures we took last week when we were over. We love fun Grandma's!

Simonson Family Reunion

2009-06-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

You always know summer in coming your way when the family reunions begin. I only wish the weather cooperated, but it was a wet reunion.

We had the Simonson (Andrey's mom's side) get together this last weeked in Mt. Pleasant. What a beautiful area. If I was made of money, I would go buy me a cabin to live in right now.

We had a great time, cleaning out our camper (that we got for free-YAHOO!) and visiting with family we havn't seen since Christmas.

We had fun taking the kids on the mini Jeep/Golf cart (so I like to call it), riding up the mountain side. I forget how beautiful it is to be in the mountais. So green, pretty wild flowers, the clean air. I can just imagine it now.

We had a yummy spaghetti dinner where Emma and Ellie both got to help. But ELlie's little distraction was Grandpa's singing fish he had hanging on the wall. She loved it until he lifted her up to it. That was a little too close for comfort.

We stuffed the pinata for the next day's activities at the park, and enjoyed a night of games and visiting.

We got to bed really late, but the girls were full of energy and so excited to sleep in their beds i the camper. As we climbed into our bed and the lights were out (and me shaking in the cold weather), we felt two little girls climb in with us. They were too scared to sleep below all by themselves. So, all four of us were cramped up in the small bed, keeping each other warm throughout the night. Silly girls.

The next day, after a yummy breakfast and some more games (while everyone else got out of bed), we headed to the local town park and had a good lunch, played on the playground until it was time for the pinata. Then a huge storm hit. We had all of us catching our food and toys as the wind and rain blew it all away. We finally bundled up the kids and hit the pinata open and watched them scramble for the goodies. I always think it's so funny to see the excitement as the candy hits the floor and the kids are trying to get it all and dodge the one little kid still swinging the bat.

We raced back to our vehicles and headed back to the cabin to have our family auction there.

Our family has an auction where we all bring things we no longer want and the money we make off it goes towards our Christmas party the following year. It was a lot of fun listening to everyone fight over certain things; pictures, cds of great grandma's voice, crafts made by grandma and Serenie, etc.

The fun ended when Ellie came in with a bloody lip from falling off the 4-wheeler (and it wasn't even moving).

We had a fun barbecue and headed back, sleepily, to Manga. We had a great time and the girls loved being outside in the mountains and with their favorite cousin, Rylee, and aunt, Starley.

Thanks for the great reunion. Can't wait till next year!

Polo Burning Party!!!

2009-06-06T15:41:00.001-07:00

It's finally arrived.
After Zach, I'm a big fan of him (he is one of our friends) and Andrey worked so hard to get the backyard looking nice enough for a party, it happened! Bailee and her group of friends came and we had the best time. We had the barbecue going, roasting and grilling hotdogs, roasting marshmellows and "Starburst," playing volleyball (until the neighbor got angry with having to keep throwing the ball back to us repeatedly), we had water fights and swam, and when it got dark, all the kids got their cell phones out (It's crazy that every kid has one now. I didn't get one till I was in college, and my boyfriend got it for me...lol) and listened to music that they liked.
We had a fun time visiting.
The funniest part was when the fire got big enough and all the kids brought out their backpacks and started throwing their homework into the fire. They were burning all their assignments and projects they had worked so hard on (yeah, right) all year. Then they brought out their uniforms they had to wear at school-the imfamous "POLO SHIRTS." They started ripping them up into shreds as they told things they hated about the school, teachers, assignments, etc. and then threw them into the fire. We had the funnest time taking pictures of this new tradition.
What a fun night.
Happy Graduation, Bailee. I can't believe she is going into High School next year!
(pictures soon to be posted).