Wow

I'm inspired and blown away by these candy or treat tables.

I seriously had no idea this was a growing trend. Amazing.

Check out more awesome setups here:

http://www.amyatlas.com/index.php/main/portfolio/

mila's daydreams

i just found this awesome blog and i'm loving all the photos. makes me jealous and wishing i had thought of it. what a great idea.

http://milasdaydreams.blogspot.com/

things that i love about my girls

i just thought i'd take a moment to pause some time and document the cute things my girls are doing right now.

Carmen:

Every night when i put her to bed she says to me, "Mommy sleep with me a couple whiles." (how she came up with that phrase, i don't know...but i love it) Then, as we lay there, she says, "mom, can i wish on a star?" And then she lifts the blinds, looks up at the sky and says, "I wish I may I wish I might, I wish for..." and every night it's something different like "I wish for things. All things." and tonight she said, "i wish for my mommy. I love you, mommy."

Carmen continues to be a good storyteller. Always concocting monsters and she describes them in great detail. From what color they are to exactly how many teeth they have and how sharp they are.

When she wakes up in the morning, she always opens her blinds in her room.

She's a GREAT big sister and always plays with Petra.

Which brings me to Petra.

Petra...

Is definitely enamored with the idea of walking. She constantly wants to lead me around the house. But, is kind of scared of the idea of only holding one or none of my hands. However, she's gearing herself up for that...and it's both exciting and sad that she'll be walking soon! Where did the time go?

Petra loves to add to the conversation. She babbles with such conviction and often puts her two cents into whatever conversation Shay and I are having. Sometimes she'll even raise her arms in the air as she talks. I LOVE it!

Petra can drum! Well, sort of. We have a drum set that Carmen got for Christmas last year. And Petra will take the drum stick and use it to hit the snare drum. It's impressive for an 11 month old.

There you have it. Just a few little things that I love about my girls right now.

Perfect Day

Living in California is really hard. Especially on day like this:

or this:

or this:

or this:

and it's fun to spend days like this with these people:

just don't let them do this:

freakiest thing ever!

Attack of the Weeds!

There is an unidentified weed that grows in my backyard. before we had it landscaped, it had overtaken an entire side of our yard. I had no idea it's stranglehold on my yard until now. It is actually a pretty weed. It has purplish greenish leaves. But it is very deceiving. Beneath the pleasant looking petals are the most insane, disgusting tree like roots I have ever seen. I mean one weed may have a trunk root that's close to 5lbs in weight. It's insane! And i'm obsessed with obliterating it. I have dreams about how to destroy it. It's like the day of the triffids:

I will figure out a way to destroy it!

Utah!

Everyone! I dragged Shay to Utah and he actually had a good time! We all did. It was so fun to visit family and spend time together in the outdoors. We first stayed with my friend Carrie. Carmen had a blast with Garret and Amanda (her kids) riding tractors and horses and jumping on the trampoline. Well, we sorta had fun riding a horse. Let's be honest, it was a little scary. I know that was my first and last time. But it was also fun and a great memory.

Petra on the trampoline with Amanda (Carrie' little girl):



Carmen taking a ride with Garret (Carrie's little boy) on his tractor.



Petra with pigtails. She didn't like me pulling her hair to get them into pigtails. We probably won't do this again for a while:


Shay at breakfast with a bunch of kids. For those of you that don't know, Shay absolutely hates going out to eat with kids as they may get rowdy. So, it was funny to see him with so many kids at a restaurant.



At Wheeler Farm looking at animals:







Amanda holding Petra:



Carrie and Jera 2.0:



The Girls:



Carrie and Jera's kids all together:



Sunday we had dinner with my cousin Jessica and her family. Here are some pictures of the cute kids:





We took the kids to Lagoon on Monday with my Aunt Teri and her girls and my cousin Josh. I should have got a group shot of us all together...but alas, i was too busy taking pictures of Carmen on rides. She had a blast. It was so much fun. Hot, but fun. (I forgot how hot Utah can get in the summer)







Some cute photos of Petra with Teri and her kids:







Tuesday and Wednesday we went to Logan to visit my Aunt Laurie and her family. Again, we had a blast. We went to Willow Park and had a picnic and enjoyed each other's company while Carmen had fun running around, introducing herself to new kids and playing with cousin Andrew. It was a blast.









I'm in love with the Hipstamatic App on my iPhone. So, I took a bunch of pics of Petra in the grass. Here are a few:





And here are some "artsy" shots of some wildlife in the zoo:





Again, Utah was super fun. We wished we could have seen more people and done more. Hopefully, we'll catch more the next time we visit.

livin'

ahhh, life is hectic! sorry for the lag on blogging. i've just been trying to enjoy my girls. i just love them. both are so spunky and awesome.

we enrolled carmen in dance and she just loves it. and it's very fun to watch her. she's very into watching movies. her favorite right now is the nightmare before christmas. she knows all the songs. it's very cute to watch her sing along as she watches. carmen is a great storyteller. she currently has five kids; charmen, twinkle, sparkle, jerkle and urkle. and she plays with peter pan and ponyo everyday. i've recently taken her to a few of my friends houses who also have kids about the same age and she's starting to get into playing with them. it's very cute to see her interact with kids her same age. man, i'm loving this stage and am going to be sad to see her mini self grow up. i keep saying, "how come you keep growing? will you stop?" and then the other day she said to me, "mom, i'll stop growing. i think i'll stay free forever." thank you, carmen. i appreciate that. oh, i love you.

petra is just so freaking cute. i can hardly stand it. she's into playing with carmen and has recently gotten into music. she rocks out to it. it's funny to see her little head bop to the beat. she's not crawling yet, but almost. and she has three teeth. petra hates it when i'm not holding her. she hates it when i put her to bed. she clenches her chubby little fists and grunts in anger. it's sad and cute at the same time. ah! love her.

Here is a video of the two of them playing:



here is a video of carmen at her dance class.