I feel such relief!

I completed my alphablog! Now what??!? Just kidding. I am sure I will always have plenty of photos to post. And I think I can probably come up with enough to write about still too! Anyway, here are a few videos I promised in a previous post. I just want to say something about the 3rd video...Yes, we are in the bathroom. I was sitting on the floor while Riley was having some "potty time" but she was more interested in playing, obviously. Also, at one point in the video I ask, "What is it?" and she says something that I couldn't understand at the time but I now realize she was answering the question just right. "It's a story," she says...so anyway, have a good laugh. These videos of Riley are basically because there are things she says that I just love how she says them. And I don't ever want to forget her funny little voice!

Z is for...

Zoo! We went to Salt Lake's Hogle Zoo a few weeks ago. For those of you who are counting that was our 3rd zoo for the summer. (#1. Idaho Falls, #2 Pittsburgh, and now this!) It's such a hit with Riley. In fact a couple days a week she will say, "car, animals" which I can only guess means she wants to go in the car to see the animals. We may just go again real soon!


Among the animals we saw are: turkeys, monkeys, an albino alligator, baby alligators, tons of smaller animals too numerous to list, and of course, zoo favorites like tigers, giraffes, and elephants. Just uploading my pictures for this post makes ME want to go back! We may invest in a zoo membership after all; we figure if we go at least 4 times a year, its worth it. And the fact that the zoo is open year-round means we would only have to go every 3 months...and I think we would go at least once a month during just the summer. And you get discounts in the gift shop, at food stands, on carousel rides, and train rides-YAY! It's a fun family activity, especially with our little environmentalist/animal lover!
Happy girls in the gift shop. Izzy, totally relaxing! Girls on the train with daddy :-)







Let me just say if you ever have a chance to go to the zoo in Salt Lake...their giraffe exhibit is so neat! You are able to get up so close! This was probably my favorite part...aside from maybe the tiger since I love tigers.


This baby giraffe was about 10 months old! He seemed pretty shy and just stood in the corner all alone.

The elephants were pretty neat, too since we were able to get fairly close to them as well. It was certainly less crowded here than it was the day we went to the Pittsburgh Zoo.
Camels!

I was tagged by Darc...

so here it is!
The RULES 1. Link the person who tagged you --- Darcy 2. Post these rules. 3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours. 4. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them.

6 Unspectacular Quirks...

1. I think I may be a little OCD. Some examples: the dishes have to be loaded in the dishwasher a certain way. I have actually re-done it myself if someone else has done it in a way I don't like. When I am picking up in the girls bedroom, I count pieces to make sure things are all together in their sets, etc. Riley has an alphabet puzzles that I will actually put the pieces of away in alphabetical order. Travis caught me doing this yesterday and had a REAL GOOD LAUGH.

2. I feel socially awkward. I am kind of shy when it comes to introducing myself to others. I am self-conscious or something and it bothers me. I am not shy around people I already know...so a lot of those people don't really realize it. But I can't just walk up to people and introduce myself or anything. I envy super-outgoing people and their personalities.

3. I want a Twilight shirt so bad! I see girls with different designs of shirts and I am always stopping at the Twilight booth in University Mall (and I HATE shopping, oddly enough)...JUST TO LOOK. I feel to guilt spending money on unnecessary things...which is sort of a quirk...so....

4. It's not that I never purchase things for myself...but if I do, it takes a lot of convincing and then I feel guilty. I think it's true of most moms...but I would rather use that money on my kids. Not even on spoiling them with unnecessaries...but I just think, "how many diapers/wipes/cans of formula/etc. could I have bought with that money?" Kids are expensive. (More expensive than birth control...ha ha....yes, it's SO worth it!)

5. Going back to school scares me. I think I mentioned this in a previous post...but I am kinda freaking out! Among other things that scare me: Spiders (well, most bugs/insects...but spiders and bees are the worst!), trying to figure out how to balance school work, family and my responsibilities at home. I think that scares me because in my head I am a perfectionist and I know I can't be perfect at it all... just look at my home...its sort of a mess. Which is weird since I can be OCD about stuff. I want it to be neat and perfectly organized...but we don't have enough space in an apartment...SOMEDAY, a house!! I look forward to that.

6. I am a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl...or sweats...I love to be comfortable. No dresses, heels, etc for me. No frills. Keep it simple. But this might be part of the reason I am not as outgoing and why I feel self-conscious. All around me I see super-stylist cute girls and it makes me crazy. But I'm real. I'm just me. So I can be happy about that. And I don't try to be something I am not. When it comes to style/makeup/and all the frills, I am proud to be low maintenance...don't be fooled, I DO have things I am high-maintenance (and anal)about and I can admit it!...It's just not about all the girly stuff.


OK...I tag

Brad
Amanda Hadfield
Kim
Alyce
Ashleigh
Jen

Y is for...

YAY! I am almost DONE alphablogging! I am basically thrilled! When I started out on this project the idea was to post 26 days in a row, for each letter of the alphabet...and now, 96 days after beginning...I am finally nearing the end! I feel relieved. I think the idea was a good one...it just wasn't carried out the way I hoped. Although...I haven't ONLY posted alphabet posts since then...I have posted a few other things. So 36 posts in 96 days is like posting once every 3rd day. Not too shabby compared to some of you out there...ha ha. I admit I am a blog stalker so I love people who post frequently! I mean, c'mon. I am a stay at home mom...aside from playing with and caring for the girls and watching Ellen everyday...this is one way I love to spend some of my time.

I guess while I am on "Y" I had better give at least one other "Y" thing. The way Riley says Yellow. Although she doesn't pronounce the "Y". It comes out "lellow" and it is quite adorable anyway.

I recently got a request for "Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!! PLEASE?!" And so I am about to try to get some posted...I have many that need to be...so we will see how much time I've got! Enjoy, Darcy ;-) And everyone else, too :-) Look at our baby! 9.5 months old and standing! I guess that means walking is just around the corner :-( Sooooo big.
Eating some YUMMY jell-o while showing off her standing skills.

Mmmm. Popsicle! aka "Sicle" in Riley's vocab
Bestest friends.
Cereal boxes from Sam's Club are a little bigger than the usually grocery store sized ones!

Travis built the base for this tower but Riley stacked all the single blocks on top of each other. We were shocked she was able to make it so high and the fact that it stood so well and wasn't wobbly!

Showing off her big girl training pants. She has only worn them a couple times because she still isn't quite ready to get rid of diapers and be potty trained. She is resisting...so we'll try again in a few weeks.
Aunt Val brought Chelsea's dog over and the girls just LOVED her!!!

I LOVE this picture. Too bad Izzy's head is in the way at the bottom.

Action shot...cousins playing.
Hailee!
Isabelle crawled under her walker and got stuck. Photo-op!

Izzy sporting her Pittsburgh Steelers pj's. Unfortunately they lost to the Eagles yesterday (Stupid!)

Okay, here's a pic of the haircut. It's not super different...its just a lot shorter.
Travis came in from running out for milk the other night with flowers for his wife! He is pretty good about getting me my favorite flowers (Gerber daisies) every once and awhile. So pretty!
Another shot of the haircut. I should have taken a side or back view...that is where most of the length came off. I think I would have liked a more dramatic A-line though. Oh well.

Izzy loves the Love sac.
It was a miracle...but I got Riley to sit fairly still to try some french braids. I think it was pretty cute but I could have done MUCH better...I did it really quick just to see how it would look and to see if she would cooperate.
Side view.
It stayed in pretty well for the whole day.

X is for...

Xactly, X-ray, X-chromosome, X marks the spot, eXtremely new, eXtremely short haircut.

Surprisingly, I came up with more than one X thing (plenty more). First off, Travis' company sent him to San Jose all last week for some job training. He is a commissions accountant at Omniture and the program/software they use to calculate commissions is called Xactly. So off he went to San Jose to a $2000 course in how to use that software. Everything was paid for from meals, to the course, to his plane ticket, etc. It was for a much needed break from the craziness of his 3 girls. I have to say I was a little nervous about 4 nights without him home. At the end of the day I am always excited to see him come through the door and help with entertaining and changing diapers. I think that is the longest we have been apart since meeting. Yeah....CRAZY. And I have never spent a night without him since Isabelle was born. Turns out he missed us enough to come home. ha ha. And thank goodness. I guess it can be a little boring all by yourself when you are used to being with your family every night. I survived (obviously) and found it was a lot easier than I thought it would be...so yay for me being able to not lose my sanity and actually found it's even fun to be "just the girls" even though the girls are so young. Anyway, Travis came home with all sorts of Xactly swag. This included a polo shirt, a gold vest, some wooden block puzzles, and a thermos/mug type thing. I am having trouble thinking of the right words for things lately. Please excuse this, it is momnesia. (That is a REAL thing!! I swear! I heard it on Dr. Phil.)

I say X-ray for Riley...
She has recognized the letter X for quite some time now and always said "eks" (X) just perfectly. We got her some flash cards, an alphabet puzzle, and alphabet books and of course all of the pictures for X are x-rays (and occasionally a xylophone) so now...sometimes instead of saying just "X" when she sees an X, she says "x-ray". It is quite funny.

X-chromosome...let's face it, there are plenty of those around here. And even men have them, being XY...they get the "X" from their mothers. And Travis contributed X's instead of Y's and so we have our two beautiful girls instead of boys. And we wouldn't have it any other way :) (Even though I wanted all boys so badly)

I say the phrase "X marks the spot" because Riley's newest obsession is finding paper in almost any form and saying, "Look, it's a treasure map." She will carrying around a "treasure map" and play. It is very sweet. I think this week for FHE we will have a treasure hunt. Hopefully... I just need to get a few ideas for it I guess. I LOVE the way Riley says "it's a treasure map" so I will try to post a video clip soon.

And finally...today was one of those days that I felt depressed about myself. Ugly face, bad hair, not happy with my body....you know, girls...some of us have those sometimes. I think...I hope I'm not the only one! Not much I can do about my face...I have no idea how to do make up for real. Like eye shadow? I NEVER put it on...no idea how to...I just do the basics that I need to get by. (In case you haven't noticed I'm pretty plain-jane, no frills....jeans and t-shirt, etc. kind of a girl) And I can't change my face, so yeah. My body...well, that is in my control and I am hoping to get my butt in gear there. I think it's actually not so bad for having had two kids in two years. But the one thing I could help was my hair. So off to the salon for a little hair therapy. Retail therapy doesn't do anything but depress me (I hate to see large, unnecessary amounts of money disappear in such a short time)...but a little change of the locks and I feel refreshed. It's not totally drastic...but it is different enough (shorter, for sure); and I love that feeling of running my fingers through freshly cut hair. It just feel so great. I am getting used to it but I think I like it. We will see how I feel tomorrow when I have to do it myself. You know how it never looks quite like how the stylist does it? I hate that! But I think this should be pretty low maintenance...which is what I am all about with two kids! I will post pics soon...maybe...

W is for...

weddings, Willy Wonka, and water.
First of all, our girls LOVE the bathtub...as long as their faces aren't being splashed. They are kind of wimps that way. But Riley constantly wants to go swimming. She asks all the time.

Travis says Willy Wonka because it's one of his favorite movies (the original version, of course).

Mostly, I want to blog about how much I LOVE weddings. I don't go to many of them...but one of my dearest friends was married on Friday, September 5th. And for the first time in my life, I was a bridesmaid! My friend Marie marred Tyler Allen in the Salt Lake Temple. It was a beautiful day!! Riley was a "flower girl" which meant Marie had a little crown of flowers thing for her head. It was beautiful. Unfortunately Riley wouldn't leave it on!!! No suprise, really but still disappointing. Travis took some pictures on our new camera.

Our little environmentalist on temple square
Not a very good pic...but me and my girls!

I know, I know....her hair is A MESS! It was a long, hard day!

Izzy ready to Party....Riley no so much. Like I said, LONG, HARD DAY!

The live band was so awesome. Amazing. Great Idea. I was jealous...