Spring Break 2009

Playing at the park. What cute girls!

Libby and Taygan

Noelle and Taylor

Easter egg hunt in Hyde Park.

Noelle ran around, but never picked anything up. Grandpa saved the day and helped her fill her basket.

The easter bunny came!

Libby found her basket in the trash compactor

Easter Sunday was a beautiful day! The girls were beautiful too!

Daren was so thoughtful and had the neighbor come over and take our picture as a family. What a rare treat.

It was about time for some new music, so enjoy! Thanks to Dad (Mary, Mary), Dave (Matisyahu), and Jess (Ryan Shupe) for the recommendations. I love good music! The song "Dream Big" is dedicated to my patient and loving husband who is slowly, but surely teaching me to dream big. (I know that is cheesey, but it had to be said!)

They say it's your birthday

Noelle turned 3 yesterday! I was hoping for a drastic improvement in behavior (she is the definition of "terrible twos"), but no such luck. It started out as a really rough day. Libby and Noelle were fighting non-stop. At noon I finally put both of them in the tub. Usually this has a calming effect, but it resulted in the opposite. After having a pitcher of water dumped on me- this was not in jest- I lost it and sent them both to bed. Libby promptly fell asleep. This was her first nap in two years. Noelle never did fall asleep, but that is nothing new. Not sounding like much of a birthday, is it?



































New sippy cups and silverware. I love practical gifts.

The day started looking up when we had Noelle's birthday dinner. Check out that cake- made by yours truly (thanks to Audrey for the cake pan). Noelle was feeling shy as we sang Happy Birthday to her.

My aunt and uncle, Steve and Vickie, happened to be at my parents so they came over and joined the party. As did Nana Holley and Aunt Kim. It is so fun to have them all with us.
Notice Ty in the back ground of this photo, he is assembling Noelles trike. Props to Ty for being such an awesome uncle (Dave too!).

Libby "helped" open every gift.
















Don't dis my wrap job (the blanket)- I was too busy making an elmo cake to worry about wrapping paper!

A new, pink trike!

It drives like a dream.

Happy Birthday Noelle!

Party in Phoenix!

This last weekend Libby and I got to fly to Phoenix to meet our new little niece, Grace. Daren stayed home with Noelle- what a trooper! I had a great time hanging with the fam, but I especially enjoyed some one on one time with Libby.


Savannah and Jess sat just behind us- a perfect photo op

Not such a good angle for our photo!

I blew bubbles- it kept Libby totally entertained and distracted while we got ready to take off. Libby has flown before, but she was too little to remember. So, this was an exciting experience for her. She did great! She giggled as we took off and loved watching her very own little TV as we flew to Phoenix.

Our first look at baby Gracie! Libby and Savannah are in baby heaven (so are Jess, Amy, and Grandma Chris).

For someone living in Phoenix, it wasn't warm enough to be in swimsuits. For a Utahn, it's a totally different story. We loved the SUN while we were there.

As soon as the girls rolled out of bed they were ready to hold Grace. It's so fun to have a happy baby (that doesn't talk back) to cuddle with in the morning.

Grandma Chris bought the girls these sweet sunglasses. They wore them everywhere- indoors and out.

All the lucky ladies that were able to attend Gracies blessing.

We had to do a secrect service shot on behalf of my Dad. This is his favorite pose. Besides being a funny shot, it is also a remarkable one because ALL my siblings are included in it. Poor mom- she is a little short.

The best part of the visit. Jess and I got to read and read- with little or no guilt. Gotta love that

Brig and Lisa were wonderful hosts. Some highlights of the visit:

-A visit to a hilarious comedy club (totally clean, fun humor)

-A couple of hikes in a nearby State Park, complete with cactus

-Dad driving me and Jess to Garage Sales (I should probably classify this as a miracle rather than a highlight)

-A wonderful blessing for Grace (given by my brother Brig)
-Brig, Savannah, and Libby busting sweet dance moves

-and last, but not least, never ending waffle cones!

Until next time....

A New Blog

Now that my incredibly talented sister-in-law has fixed my bow blog, I will officially introduce it: libbyloushairbows.blogspot.com. Like President Uchtdorf said last conference, we all have a desire to create. I am fullfilling that desire by making hair bows. It's fun!

Roller Skating

We went roller skating for FHE. It was fun, but painful. Noelle could barely stand up (as you can see), but she sure did look cute in roller skates. I spent most of the time with her on my hip. In fact, I was holding her and rollerblading over to the drinking fountain and I fell down! Obviously I had no hands to ease into the landing, so I have some sweet bruises to mark what exactly hit the ground. I know I am getting old, because I wasn't embarrassed at all, just in pain.

Daren literally holding Noelle up. She let us do all the work for her!

Daren included my head in the original photo, but I chose to edit it out. It's better that way- trust me. This was Libby's second time roller skating (thanks to the Berry's!) and she was getting the hang of it this time around.

Look how stinkin' cute! The best part of this whole rollerskating experience is the song I have added to the playlist. Make sure you listen to it! It will make you want to roller skate- old school style.

We need a little boy!

Dancing Girls! I'm ashamed to admit that they are groovin' to Spice Girls in these photos. Of all the music I have, why have they chosen that!? I guess it doesn't matter, as long as they are having fun. I'm finding that my posts are a little repetitive. It's all about girly stuff around here. Maybe we need a little boy!

I'm struggling to come up with a positive topic to discuss. I figure two negative posts in a row is a little dramatic. However, our kitchen flooded this week and multiple other stressors have got me a little down. My faith is being tested, but in a strange way I am appreciative of it because it makes me stronger. Friday night I found some piano music that was an answer to my prayers. "Come Thou Font of Every Blessing" was the song. It has great lyrics and it was nice and relaxing to play the piano for just a little bit. I do know that our prayers are answered, sometimes not in the time frame or in the way that we expect, but they are answered.

What a week!

A lot of little dramas have combined to make this week incredibly long!

Monday morning began with Libby and I having a heated discussion about what she was going to wear. She insisted that she wear something fancy. She is all about skirts and dresses. I can't get her to just wear a pair of levis. It drives me nuts. I guess I should be glad she wants to look nice, but sometimes we run out of "fancy" options that are suitable for school. Anyway, after the clothes issue was resolved, we began another "discussion" about riding the bus to school. Libby did not want to ride the bus because she can never find a seat. Well, being the wise mother that I am, I instructed Libby to politely ask some girls that she knew from her class if she could sit with them. I assured her that they would say yes. I offered a silent prayer that this method would work. After she got home from school I asked her how things went and she was happy to say that the girls had said yes and she sat with them. I was so pleased... until the next morning. Libby was crying again, insisting that she would not ride the bus. So, I pressed her further about what the issue actually was. She explained that everyone had assigned seats except for her. It finally dawned on me that when she was asking to sit with these little girls she happened to be taking the assigned seat of another little girl at our bus stop. This had caused great conflict between all parties! So much for the wise mom. Ultimately, I ended up talking to the bus driver and he said he would give her an assigned seat. This didn't change the fact that when Libby got on the bus she was crying and that about broke my heart. As soon as Noelle and I got home from the bus stop we hopped in the car and drove to North Park. I couldn't go on with my day until I knew Libby was okay. As I recount those two little dramas, they don't seem quite as terrible as they did when they were actually happening. I will blame that on my inadequate writing skills (a good writer could explain it all better) and my abundance of hormones that were flowing while this was all occuring (making the incidents seem more extreme than they actually were).

The next evening Noelle got in on the action. I had put her to bed with the accompanying lecture on how she better stay in her bed or she will get it, etc. I then went downstairs to do some cleaning. When I finally came back upstairs I could hear Noelle screaming, "Help me, help me!" I ran into her room and saw that she had twirled her hair around her finger to the point that it had cut the circulation off. It was not pretty. The tip of her finger was purple and large. I couldn't get the hair unwound so I had to cut it. That was fun! An adrenaline surge for sure. She now has a little bob cut that is pretty, darn cute.

Lastly, this morning Libby woke up with an incredible rash all over her body. We went to InstaCare, where they told us it was an allergic reaction. Who knows what she was reacting to. She is better now and we made it to church. However, my lesson didn't go well. I was definitely not in the right frame of mind. Oh well, I'll do better next time.

Now it's Sunday night and I can't believe we have to start all over again tomorrow! I'm not quite ready.

You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks!

Yesterday, Daren, me, Dave, Libby, Savannah, and Tanner took advantage of a day off and headed up to Beaver Mountain.

I've been skiing only a couple of times before and both of those times it was just night skiing on Little Beaver. This time I actually started getting the hang of things. The kids took lessons and that was wonderful. We took them on one run before the lesson, which may have been a mistake. Savannah and I spent most of the time on our rear ends. Tanner and I rode the lift up together and when I got off, he just kept sitting. He was about to ride the lift back down, when the goofy guy who was suppose to be watching finally stopped the lift. Dave had to lift Tanner down (Dave saved the day on multiple occassions, we were so glad to have a fun expert with us).

When we went for a run after the lessons it went much better. Everyone made it off the lift and Savannah and I made it all the way down Little Beaver without falling. Dave skiied down with Tanner and Daren had Libby, so I can't really report on number of falls or anything like that, but they all made it down safe and with smiles on their faces.

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. It was so warm we were skiing without coats or gloves. A day like that could turn anyone into a skiier!

I have to thank Jess who stayed home and took care of mom (still recovering from major surgery), Isaak, and Noelle. She made it possible for us all to go. Also, thanks to Dave for helping out and Daren for being my personal and patient ski instructor!

The pictures aren't the best, but they are better than nothing...

Daddy is coming home!

Daren has been in Washington D.C. for the past 5 days and we have missed him. He should be home tonight and I can't wait! Being alone and in charge is the pits. Plus, I just miss him. I guess this shouldn't come as a shock, since we have been married for 11 years, and he is my best friend. No one can replace him.

PS His students at Sky View want him back too! The last day I was there substituting they were getting restless and starting to ask when Mr. Jackson would be back. He is much more fun than I am and most of them really like him.

My Go-Go Dancer

Last Sunday, I woke up from a nap (thanks D for making that possible!) and found Noelle in this lovely outfit. I think Libby helped her pick it out. She had pulled out her piggy tails, but she still looked so cute I had to take some photos. I should have been video taping instead . I mentioned in a previous post that she doesn't pose for photos. Well, she doesn't pose, but she sure can dance!