Kelli Has Bangs

Today, I was thinking, Kelli would probably look cute with bangs. She has a bunch of new hair that always comes out any time I do her hair. Then her hair looks like a terrible mess half way through the day. I thought that maybe bangs would help that. I was so nervous cutting her bangs. I probably examined her hair for a half an hour before I finally started to cut. I was worried that I would do a terrible job or that I would miss her hair all in one length.

Here is the finishing touch. I actually quite like it.


When I finished cutting her hair, I started to get ready and I let her sit on our bathroom counter top. She kept looking in the mirror. Then she said to me, "Thanks for cutting me bangs."

Sorry and It's Just Fine

Kelli is in this funny new phase where she apologizes for everything and almost everything is just fine. Sometimes I get after Kelli and I tell her not to do something, she will say, "I'm sorry mommy." Sometimes when she is in big trouble and I put her in time out, she will sit in the corner crying and yelling, "I'm just sorry mommy!" She repeats it over and over. It's kind of sad. I just want to immediately take her out of time out and tell her it's ok, but it probably won't teach her anything.

Also, a lot of times Kelli will run up to something she is not supposed to play with or do something she knows she is not supposed to do. I tell her not to play with that and she says back to me, "It's just fine." Then I say, trying not to laugh, "It's not just fine. We shouldn't play with that." She will just repeat back, "It's just fine."

In a way, she taught me a lesson that sometimes it really is "just fine." I feel that a lot of times in my life I get really worked up and stressed or worried. I just need to sit back, breathe, and say to myself, "It's just fine." Anyway, that is my random thought for the day.

Hiking Day

On last Thursday, I decided to go on a little hike. I practically live in the mountains, and there are a lot of trails around here. I put Kelli in the kid carrying pack, packed some food and water, and headed off over the hills. We hiked for a ways, and climbed the top of a hill. Once we got to the top, the scenery was spectacular. I could see the Salt Lake Valley and Utah Valley from where I was standing along with the huge mountains surrounding us. The skies were also gorgeous with all the big, puffy clouds. Here are some pictures of our little adventure.

Here is a picture of Kelli and me with the mountains behind us.


Here is a picture of Kelli and me with Utah Valley behind us.



Mount Timpanogos in the background.


Utah Valley.


The Salt Lake Valley.


Once we got to the top of the hill, we sat down together and ate our lunch which consisted of cold pizza, grapes and applesauce. It was quite good. Food always tastes better when your hiking or camping.

Here are just a few other pictures.

Trip to Texas

We had the opportunity to go to Houston, Texas. Chris' parents, Kory and Darlene just moved there and invited us to come out. We flew out on the 24th and loved every minute there. The day after we got there, we went to cirque du soleil. For those of you who have never heard of that, it is kind of like the circus, but with acrobat stuff. It was amazing. Cameras are not allowed, so unfortunately I was unable to take any pictures. I couldn't believe some of the things they would do, like catching each other with their feet and doing flips from one pole to another and balancing on top of each other. It is hard to believe that a human being can do such things.

We also spent a lot of time in Kory and Darlene's pool. We played in the pool almost every day, especially because Kelli loves to swim.


Kory took us fishing. We went out into the Gulf. It was such a beautiful day. We saw some dolphins, and some sharks swimming around on the surface of the water. We also saw a big sea turtle that came up to the surface. We caught several fish, like a King Mackerel and a bunch of sea trout. Chris had a huge fish on his line, but it broke it off. Here is a picture of Chris hanging out in the back of the boat.I think we had a King Mackerel on the line right here. I think this one got off the line right when we got it to the boat, so I didn't get a picture of it.


Chris caught a shark in this picture. It isn't super big, but it's a shark.


On another day, Kory and Darlene took us boating. There is a lake not too far from where they live, so we drove to that lake and had some fun. Here is a picture of Kelli in the boat. She really liked riding in the boat.



We got to do some water skiing, slalem, wake boarding and tubing.

Chris water skiing.


Here is a picture of Chris, Kelli and me on the tube. Kelli kept saying that she wanted to ski, so this was the best thing we could do for her. As soon as we were out in the water on the tube, she started to whine and wanted to get back in the boat.


On the day before we left, we went to the zoo. The Houston Zoo is a nice zoo. The day was very hot and humid. We were practically wet by the time we left. Here is a picture of Kelli and her daddy at the zoo.


Just the guys.



This next picture was kind of cool because the tube that Kelli and Matthew are in goes through an aquarium.


I just love clown fish. Kelli loved this too, because it's Nemo and Dori.


Here is Kelli with her grandma and grandpa Judd. The giraffes were right next to the window. They are a lot bigger than I thought.


Here is Kelli and me in front of a baby elephant.


Kelli asked me to take a picture of her in front of the iguana, I believe.


We also did some other things like hang out at the mall, went out to eat, went to the Harry Potter movie and relaxed. Thanks Kory and Darlene for such a fun trip. We sure enjoyed it!

Ghosts

So last night was quite the night trying to get Kelli ready for bed. It took Chris and me over an hour to get her to sleep because there was a ghost in her drawers. Kelli was very upset and crying about it. She really believed there was a ghost in her drawer. We tried everything we could think of to acting out a puppet show with her stuffed animals telling her that they needed her to help them to get to sleep, to getting out a picture of Jesus, to telling Kelli that it is just her and Jesus and that Jesus is here to make her feel better, to singing primary songs, to saying a prayer, to having Kelli check out her drawers to see if there was a ghost, to have her growl at the ghost, to turning a night light on, to just telling her that there are no ghosts, to pretending that the ghost's name was George and saying to George, "get out of here." Finally, I just didn't know what to do anymore. Kelli just kept saying that there was a ghost in her drawer, so I finally decided that I was going to take Kelli's drawers out of her room. That made her even more upset and she told me that she would go to sleep. And she finally did. I have no idea where she got the ghost thing from. Do any of you have suggestions on what to do to get your kids to not be scared at night, just in case the "taking the drawers out of Kelli's room idea" doesn't work next time?

Late Post for the 4th of July

This has taken me quite a while to get this post up. We have moved into our new town house. It is sure nice to be here, but it sure has been a lot of work. When we get things picked up a little more, I will post some pictures of our new place.

On the night of the 3rd, we went to the Real Salt Lake game. That was sure a lot of fun. After wards, there was a firework show. Kelli did not like the fireworks at first. Then she started to enjoy them when we got her to sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star while the fire works shot up into the sky. The next day, on the 4th, we spent the day cleaning our new home. That evening, we went to a parade. Kelli sure enjoyed that. After the parade, we bought some fireworks, went to Chris' grandparents home and lit our fireworks. Finally, I had my camera with me so I could take some pictures. So here you go.

Here is a picture of Chris getting Kelli's sparkler lit.


Kelli enjoying her sparkler.


Family with sparklers.


Kelli with her great grandparents.

Happy Anniversary!

Last Thursday was our anniversary! Chris and I have been married for 4 years! For Christmas last year, my parents gave us a certificate to stay at the Zermatt in Midway, which we could use anytime throughout the year. After I taught my classes on Saturday morning, my parents came up to watch Kelli so Chris and I could take off. We ate at the Olive Garden for lunch, then we drove up to Park City and spent some time in the outlet stores. Then we drove to the Zermatt and checked in. After that, we drove over to the Provo river, got on our awesome looking waders and fly fished. It was so much fun. I sure love to fly fish. It was a bummer that we didn't catch anything, which is unusual, because at least Chris can catch a fish. I had a strike, but that was about it. If anything, it is the best to just be in the outdoors. It is so relaxing. I just love to be in the outdoors. If there was ever a crisis, I probably wouldn't mind it, because I could just camp every day, and fly fish and hike around. Maybe it wouldn't be that great if something like that happened, but it is just fun to get away and recreate. I packed my camera to take some pictures, but I ended up leaving it in our hotel room, so I didn't get any pictures taken. Thanks mom and dad for the certificate and watching Kelli. We sure appreciated it.