Caught Red handed!

and Bejewled

AND yellow faced!! LOL
proud of myself
hiding??

school pictures

at school
on my way!
My seat!
My teacher!
My seat right next to Mrs Collins desk! YES!
waiting for the bus
still waiting....

First day

The first day of school went great! We got up on time, got dressed, made lunches, ate breakfast and they were on their way!

I grabbed the camera, and Carlos waited in the rain for the bus with the girls while Laurie and I drove to the school and waited for them there!

(I was going to embed the pictures but I will just put a bunch at the end and you can look at them then!)

When Elaine got there, we walked to her class, I told Miriam I would come see her soon! Elaine was the first in her class, and Mrs Proffitt helped her know where she should put her things and told her to find her seat. She did and then started the coloring that was there for her. I waited for a while and then decided I should go see Miriam. She was glad to see me. We talked for a bit and then Laurie and I left.

When school was out, Laurie and I waited for a long time for the bus! Then Elaine happily got off the bus and ran to give me a hug!

She told me she had cake!! She told me they did a fire drill practice! She told me she has a best friend named Katie! I think she liked it! She even had 'homework' it was a bag they had to fill with 4 things about themselves. We had fun with that!

Today was good too, it was Miriam's time to fill up a bad of stuff. Elaine was SOOO excited about something she had to put in the fridge. I guess the fundraiser stuff said if your parents weren't available to see it when you go home, you should put it in the fridge by the milk, so she HAD to do it! So anyway, now I have 2 kids with fundraising stuff so....Wanna buy something??

Miriam has decided that she doesn't like sharing the school experience with someone else. She wants to be the one to tell us about stuff and has to say it before Elaine can. This is going to be interesting.

I am going to put pics up in another post.

Kindergarten orientation! **

We went to meet Elaine's teacher today. Of course I already knew who she was and that she had her but it was good to go to the orientation. She was so excited! I was too! They talk to you for a few minutes and then they take the kids to their class and you stay back for a little bit... We missed Miriam's orientation so I had never experienced it before. I didn't think I was going to, but I teared up as I watched her happily prance off with her teacher away from me!! Wow, she is going to be so happy at school! What a cutie! (pictures later when I feel like it! LOL)

HI mom!

See ya!

New niece!

My one and only brother and his wonderful wife had their first baby this morning!! Her name is Norah Lynn Ogden! She looks just like him and I love her already!! You can see a few pictures on my mom's blog! Hurray for babies!!! Congratulations!! :)

Evoly's party

Evoly's party was great! Sarah did a great job with the food! We played water ballooons! Evoly got a bunch of Dora things and the girls want to hang out at thier house a lot more!

some more

Partayy

I made this today for Evoly's birthday! I will add to it after the party!

for fun

sharing our cone. (Elaine was at a b-day party)

sharing their cone.

cutie

At the school playground such a ham!

walking home from the school

on the swings! Yeah!

Having fun with Aunt Carolyn

Group photo of a wonderful visit! Don't know why there are some funny faces, I think they were saying cheese or something! :)

new car and cuteness

Old car
New car!!!!!!!!!!! :)
Sisters on the 4th of July!

pictures

My sister Olivia, put up pictures of her move to FL and it contains our 4th of July photos since I didn't have a camera! Take a look! http://picasaweb.google.com/dragonflyexpressions/MovingToFlorida2#

car

Well we got a new car!! 2006 Nissan Altima! Carlos is in love with it! It drives really nice and we are excited. The only thing we aren't excited about it is having a car payment again.... pictures to come soon.

new song

Ok so I don't actually know how new this song is but I heard it today for the first time and decided that I really like it!

coming soon

We just got a new camera so I will be able to start posting pictures etc when we get a memory card! We thought it took a Memory stick and we had those so we didn't get one, then we found out it takes the Memory stick DUO! It's different I guess! anyway, coming soon!

update

Well our camera broke so we haven't been able to take many pictures lately. Mostly because we have a disposable camera and need to wait for it to develop! So...since most of the time I don't post until I have pictures, I haven't done much. So anyway I will do an update here and hope that it isn't too boring! :) I got my hair cut. I wanted it more angled so in a month or so, I will go back and get it done shorter in the back. I finished my choir conducting class and it was great, I learned a lot and enjoy knowing what I am doing and how to get what I want from the singers! :)
The first weekend of this month we went to the temple and then arranged to meet two of my roommates from BYU the semester before I got married!! It was so fun! I saw Sarah in the temple but she wasn't able to meet up with us afterwards. So it was my family and Camille! We went to the DC zoo and then out to dinner! It was great! I think we are planning to make a habit of meeting at the temple each month! I will really like that! I don't know yet how July will work since the first weekend is Independence day and then Carlos will be at High Adventure camp but we will make it at some point!
My dad came to visit last week. We had a good time. Miriam didn't attend her last day of 1st grade because we took a road trip to NC. It was fun. Sarah and Dad have pictures so maybe I will get them from them. We went to a museum and then Dad found a dance studio that did Friday night dances! It was great to have a short lesson and then get to practice what you learned. I think I will make Carlos try it tonight and see if we remember!! :)

Carlos started a new position last week and he likes it alright...except that a lot of the people there use bad language and it is frustrating and offensive. He said something once but doesn't feel like continually asking. He had he 32nd birthday on Tues. I got him the movie Princess Bride and had painted a football dish for him to use at football nights! Last night we went to S&K which is closing and got him two new suits, a shirt, tie, and socks all for the price of a regular suit!

Miriam is so big. She is 7!! She is going into 2nd grade and defiantly very smart. Next year we are going to try to get her in the gifted program I think. She might get to have her kindergarten teacher again! That will be fun. She is a big helper at home and while she has a LOT of worries, she tries to be nice. She took 3 sessions of swimming and is getting pretty good. She can almost dive!

Elaine is turning 5 tomorrow!!! She is excited to start school in the fall. She wants to be just like Miriam. She is also taking swimming lessons and getting better. She still needs confidence. She is sort of getting the hang of reading and has some words memorized. However, she doesn't really like to take the time to do that, she would rather be watching TV or playing a computer game....

Laurie is starting to do some babbling that sounds more like words. When she sings along with us she does the right amount of sounds, they just don't sound like words. She says Mama, Eye, and Bapa...not sure what that means. It used to mean cracker. She will start a swimming class at the YMCA this summer so I am excited about that!
Well that is about it I think... I will try to get a camera soon...

Elaine

I realized I didn't have any new pictures with Elaine in them so I decided to put her swimming lesson pictures up. She is doing really well, getting more confidence...at least with the teachers. Not when we go as a family though! :)

Crabtree Falls

We have been planning to go on a hike to Crabtree Falls for a while now and this was the weekend we decided to go. Miriam and Elaine were a bit hesitant to go since the last time they went with Carlos the path was iced over and they fell a LOT and it was scary! The trail isn't hard but it has a lot of switchbacks and steep edges that could be dangerous. Anyway, the drive was fine, not too long...until the Blue Ridge Pkwy. It was so windy! Miriam lost her breakfast! :( But we made it! (on the way back was worse cause we hadn't eaten much for 4 hours and both Miriam and I had a hard time keeping it together! But we did!)
It was a beautiful day, perfect temp, not humid and we were the first people on the trail! The water fall was such a site and the water was cool and beautiful! We carried Laurie either on our shoulders or in arms and traded off. It wasn't bad. But we had to take a lot breaks and have a lot of pep talks that we could make it all the way! We had to keep reminding the girls that we were going to the top and it would all be worth it when we got there! It was! Even Miriam admits she is glad we made it and had a 'little bit of fun.' :)
By the time we got to the top there were people who had passed us and on the way down already! It took us a while! Round trip up and back was 4 hours!! Shouldn't take that long! LOL Anyway, we saw lots of centipedes, snails, flys, Azalea flowers (pretty!), and a few.......RATTLE SNAKES!!!!!!!
So here's the story: We got to the top, sat there viewing the majesty of the mountains, eating our snack and resting when a family comes up and starts doing the same thing. The dad says 'wow that is a big rattle snake!' I thought he was kidding, picking on his kids! NO, I turned back and there it was, going away from us thank goodness! I told him I thought he was joking, and he was obviously not and also not a fan of snakes! It was a little weird, but when he said it, I pictured the big AZ/UT rattlers, all coiled up. No, this was about 2 1/2-3 ft. But still, a rattle snake! So it slithered away, phew! So on our way down, I asked Carlos what we should do if we see another one on the trail...? He said, don't touch it! lol So not minutes after we start on the trail down, did we have a scary experience! I was turned around with Elaine doing something, and when we turned around Carlos was saying something about going slow and careful but Elaine doesn't do those things and she proceeds when we hear 'TDDDDDLLLL' (ok that is my attempt and imitating a rattle snake warning sound! LOL) She stops, I grab her to back up and we stand perfectly still. There is a snake just on the other side of the trail going up the hill...head away thankfully! But it was scary!! And bigger than the other one!! It stopped, we stopped, and waited, people started lining up behind us... we told them what it was so we all just stood there not sure how to proceed.... Then the snake started moving again up the hill and when it's head was a better distance away, I picked up Elaine and on the count of three quickly walked past while holding my breath! Carlos had Laurie on his shoulders and Miriam in his arms! It was defiantly an experience I had never had and will never forget! LOL Needless to say the rest of the way down we were extremely cautious and worried of another encounter! I am glad to say we didn't have another one! Phew!!!
So we went as fast down the hill as we could because at that point we were ready to be done! So tired, and being careful...but not careful enough! Miriam slid a little and fell backwards on to a big rock that happened to have a point on it and it left a big BLACK and BLUE bruise on her thigh! She was so good, didn't cry too much and kept going! Then not long after, I didn't see one rock and slipped on it and twisted my ankle! My gymnastic coaches would be proud of me, after a brief catch of my breath and pain to subside, I 'toughed it out!' :) It was ok, just a little sore. It was so great to get to the end and feel so happy that we made it all the way to the top and back! All of us! It was wonderful!
This morning my ankle was a bit swollen but not too sore. I iced it and that helped a lot, it will be fine! Hurray! Oh and our camera stopped working. Apparently the last fall from the counter to the ground, courtesy of Laurie, ended it's life! It still turns on but won't take pictures! Grrrr. so now we have to decide if we want to repair or get a new one. Sheesh!! So I have no pictures! Sorry. Carlos took some on his phone so he will have those but I don't!

Miriam's Birthday

I will let Miriam write about her birthday but I will put a few things here. She turned 7 and I can't believe it! She is so big! She loves to read, and play games so... she got books (6 from Nana!!), games and other things for her birthday. Her BIG birthday gift was a new bicycle! She was so happy!

Birthday loot!

BABIES! (Laurie, Evoly and Mason)

New bike!

Wrapped gifts and the awesome pinata Grandma brought from Costa Rica!

This is what she wanted her cake to look like. I know I messed up and it isn't very creative but that is what she wanted and I didn't spend very much time on it! it was a homemade chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting! YUM, except I cooked it a little too long and it was dry.... oops

Fairy apron and hat! :)