Photo Shoot

 I've been meaning to post these pictures for a couple of months. This was a photo shoot that we had done just before Christmas. It was meant to be done for our Christmas Cards, but Danny was super busy during the month of December and his schedule never worked with the girls school breaks and as a result the pictures got done much later in the month than we had planned. As a result, we went another year without getting Christmas Cards out. Anyways, here are some of our favorites from the photo shoot.

There were quite a few funny ones since Ashley is still learning how to do a good camera smile. Both girls also got tired of taking pictures towards the end, so it was hard to get a good shot with both of them smiling.

Sick, Sick, Sick

So after Ashley and I thought we were recovered from being sick last weekend, Ashley made a turn for the worst again on Wednesday. Her fever came back and she was more tired than normal. I kept her home from preschool on Thursday and she spent the day sitting on the couch. When Danny got home around 5pm, she was fast asleep on the couch. I was ready to take her to the doctor on Friday, but then she woke up that morning seeming to be recovered. She has been fine since then.
Alyssa had been complaining about her ear hurting all week, so I was going to have her checked out at the doctor on Friday too, but since we didn't end up going, I didn't worry too much about her ear. That is, until she came to me crying in the middle of church yesterday. I pushed her through to the end of church, got her home, gave her medicine and researched home remedies for ear aches. I found one using a little warm pouch of salt, which we tried and it lessened the pain for her. Between medicine and the salt pouch we made it through the night and got her into the doctor first thing this morning. Diagnosis- ear infection on both sides, one of them being ruptured(not sure exactly what that means, but it just sounds bad).
Then there is Danny. He, unfortunately, caught the sickness from either Ashley or myself. He was so careful to wash his hands often and avoid sharing germs. He had a couple of miserable days and then he seemed to be better, just like Ashley. Saturday morning, his fever returned, he developed a cough and then it turned into full on cold symptoms by yesterday afternoon.
We are so ready to be done with sickness. We felt like we have avoided it for most of the winter, but somehow our luck ran out.

Wishing for Spring

 This has been such a smoggy, cold, snowy, miserable winter. So you can imagine our excitement when the sun was out on Saturday and the temperatures got into the low 40's. It was cause for celebration-so we went off to our favorite park. As you can see, there was still quite a bit of snow on the ground, but that didn't stop these girls from having some fun(it also didn't stop Alyssa from dressing like it was spring weather). This is Ashley's favorite thing to do at this park. It is a double vine swing thing that she can go so high on.

With the help of her big sister, Ashley also conquered the rope pyramid. It doesn't look so impressive up close, but...

 when you step back a little you can see how big it really is. It is at least two stories high and that is Alyssa and Ashley right in the middle of it on their way back down.

We also celebrated by getting Slurpee's on the way home. We only wish that Daddy would have been feeling well enough to join us.

Happy Birthday, Danny!

Daddy had a birthday yesterday. I had great intentions of having people over to celebrate with dinner and dessert, but then Ashley and I came down with a stomach bug on Friday afternoon which ruined the fun. Not only were we not able to eat much, but I hardly had the energy or stomach to make a cake for him. Fortunately his parents stepped in to the rescue and brought over a cake for him. We were so thankful for that. I think he had a good birthday even though Ashley and I were not feeling our best. We were at least on the mend by yesterday morning. Now I get to enjoy the next month of Danny and I being the same age before I become "old" again(at least that is how he describes it).

Bath Paints

Ashley didn't want to get in the bath today. I don't know why she was so opposed to it, but I really wanted to wash all of the sick germs off of her and to have a chance at being able to run a brush through her hair, so I decided to bribe her with bath paints. I found them on pinterest and they worked great! Here is her creation.

This pirate ship is her very favorite thing to draw and she does a pretty good job of it. She started to paint something else and then the paints fell into the water and ruined the fun. We then turned on the shower, washed her and washed the painting off as well.

It's a....

BOY!!!

We are all so excited.

Snow and Sun

 What would you do after a week of heavy snowfall and smoggy conditions, when the skies finally clear up and allow the bright sun to shine through?

What else can you do besides enjoy the sunshine(we haven't seen much of it in these parts this winter). Ashley got this snow brick maker for Christmas and we finally tried it out. After the girls failed in two different attempts to make a wall, the pregnant mom had to step in and help out. It wore me out, but it was worth it to see how much they loved their snow fort. Unfortunately, we built the walls too high for the warm sunshine because after adding the 7 layer, the walls started to fall. They got to at least enjoy it for an hour or two though.

Alyssa's First Grade Devotional

Each of the elementary grades at Alyssa's school has a turn presenting a devotional to their families and friends. We had the opportunity to attend Alyssa's 1st Grade Devotional this past week. They presented the things they have been learning in class about the Doctrine and Covenants. All of the kids were dressed up like little pioneers and they told stories and sang songs relating to Joseph Smith, the organization of the church, and the early pioneers. Alyssa had two really long parts and she did such a good job saying them clearly into the microphone. It was especially fun to see her break out of her shell a little and use more enthusiasm than normal when she said her parts. We were glad that we could attend it.