A few recent videos...

So here are a few of the latest videos we have taken of the girls. Nothing spectacular, but they love playing Ring around the Rosie together and singing little songs. Isabelle wasn't really performing for these particular songs but don't let her act fool you. She actually can sing a lot more than what she shows. The last video is putting Isabelle to bed. She is always SO excited to go to bed at night and she giggles with delight as we carry her upstairs or as we give her blanket and milk to her. I love it!! I will try to post a video of her singing the entire alphabet by herself because she is sooooo good at it! Maybe it's normal for an almost 18 month old to sing as much as she does but we feel like she is pretty advanced anyway... but remember, we are partial! ;)

Two clinic shifts down...

19 to go...

I'm not counting or anything! ha ha. This morning was my second shift of massage clinic. Both last week and this week I did 5 one-hour massages in less than 6 hours. The time sort of flies by because you are busy the entire time, either massaging a client or changing sheets/washing hands/etc in-between clients. I feel like I am holding up well but by the end, I do feel pretty exhausted physically. I am sure it will get easier and I will adjust to it soon. It has overall so far been a good experience. Out of the ten clients I have worked on only two have been men and all but one of the ten had gotten massages before. So that is sort of nice to not have to explain everything over and over :) I am sure I won't always be so lucky...but that's okay.

I have finals this week. End of my third quarter!! Three down, two to go. Monday's final is anatomy III but it covers all the anatomy I have learned since October (anat I, II, and III). Yikes. Good thing I enjoy my anatomy class. I might even be sad to not have anymore quarters of it...maybe. But I WILL NOT miss cadaver lab :)
Tuesday I have my cranial-sacral therapy final.
Wednesday is pathology I final and then Thursday will end the week with my Sports Massage final. YAY!! I am looking forward to finals being over and for the new quarter to begin the following Tuesday. New classes!!! Exciting. My classes in Quarter 4 are Trigger Point Therapy, Structural Bodywork I, Pathology II, Shiatsu, and Professional Development III. Doesn't it sound fun?!?!

Our tiny (terrible) two!

Ok...she isn't SO terrible but there are PLENTY of moments where I feel like she is such a challenge!!! And she isn't really TINY, but she is petite! Riley is over 2 1/2 now...can't believe that she turns 3 in August but we can't remember life without her. We rarely have a dull moment with this girl! I don't even know where to begin! Back around the end of January she was 100% potty trained and accidents were rarities. She was wearing big girl underpants all day and we couldn't be more proud of her. Then we moved into this house...which she still calls "the new house" and not "home". Since, she has had a small relapse with her potty skills although she is getting better everyday, I think. The thing is, we now have her wearing pull-ups most of the time...just as a precaution. She ALWAYS asks to use the potty when we are out and about or at someone else's home...it's just here in our home that she sometimes has an accident. But she really is getting better and I think we will be back to using big girl underwear very soon. Her language skills are developing more and more and she is starting to use the right words for some situations. Although she still refers to Izzy as a "HE". She is no where near as good of an eater as her little sister and tends to prefer cereals, candy, chips, and that sort of thing. Don't worry, we still make her eat healthy things too! She just asks for those other things a lot. Candy is just a treat for using the potty or being good or that sort of thing, special occasions, etc.

Riley loves to sing and dance, as always. She loves going to nursery and loves church. Daddy has been an excellent teacher lately. He does family home evenings while I am at school and Riley has learned SO much!! She knows so much about Jesus and the sacrament. She also has learned about baptism. The coolest thing is she is saying prayers (with some help!) and it is so sweet to hear her pray. Isabelle has even started to take a turn saying family prayer with help. Of course, she is much harder to understand but what a sweet thing! Riley also recognizes temples and loves them. She knows that is where you should go to get married.

Riley's most recent passion is puzzles. And I think I owe a big thanks to Grandma Barb for this one...as she bought the girls puzzles when we were up there for Easter. Seriously, the girl spends so much time doing puzzles!! SHE LOVES THEM. When she first gets a new one, it takes her a good 30 minutes to figure it out....but then she will do it over and over and before you know it 30 minutes has turned into 2 minutes. Seriously. She is quite impressive!!
(sorry these puzzle pics are out of order....I dont have the patience to fix the order right now!)



She can be a really sweet big sister and I think she is getting better but she can still be pretty mean to Isabelle, too. I think this is pretty normal...but what a bully sometimes!! She knows how to push our buttons, which she has been doing since the age of 12 months old...but she has us figured out even better these days. Riley is still very much into watching movies. And she loves playing games. She loves the letters of the alphabet and I think I need to start working with her again on them and begin teaching her sounds they make and that sort of stuff because her memory is really good and I know she has the ability to just soak up new info.

She also likes to be social and makes friends easily. She plays shy for a few minutes...but that doesn't last! Sometimes I worry she may be a little too friendly. She loves other girls that are bigger than she is; I think she is in awe of them. It's sort of cute, and sort of annoying...
She loves being outside and being active. Although she is clumsy...so we think Isabelle will be more of an athlete than Ri. Maybe she will surprise us though!
Some of Riley's favorite people...well this will be hard to list...so let's just say she really loves Uncle Johnny, Aunt Dana, Hailee, and Camryn...but also all her other aunts, uncles, and her grandparents! I hear a lot more these days that people think she is looking more like mom than dad. Although there is no denying that as a newborn, she was totally Travis. And she still has some of his look to her, we just hear it the other way around more often these days. She is petite just like her features. She loves shopping and animals. I know some of this is so random and unorganized but I am just trying to capture most of her current interests for the sake of journaling :) She has long, beautiful hair that I don't think I will ever let her cut it short. Or it would take some convincing, anyway! She is a big helper but can also be so aloof and clueless. I sometimes wonder if it's for real or if it's just an act? Does she play dumb to be lazy? I am not sure!! Are two year old's capable of that? Perhaps.
Basically, she is just so much fun!! She comes up with the smartest stuff... She gives us many, many laughs, and just a few headaches. I know there are more in store for the future...but oh well. She has always been really good at playing on her own, entertaining herself, and being independent. It doesn't really make me sad to see how independent she is because I still have Isabelle to depend on me a lot. But I am sure at some point I will wonder where the days have gone and how my little girl has gotten so big!! We were just talking about how in a couple years Riley will be almost 5. That is crazy....we can't even imagine...but we will blink and that time will be here to send her to school. I will cry then and wonder where the time went, but for now, I am happy to see her growing and being a "big girl".

So this is what 5:00 AM looks like...

still dark outside. I could barely sleep, I kept waking up checking the clock. Talk about paranoid... But I did not want to oversleep on my first day of clinic!!! So I am off to start the next phase of school. I hope the next 23 weeks go quickly...
(that's how long until I graduate!)
Until then...I will most likely be an even worse mom and wife as my schedule is a little more exhausting....
aw crap. Good thing there is an end in sight.
I am sure today will be an experience to post about later. Hopefully I make it through 5 hour-long back to back massages. Hopefully I make it out without someone having to pick me up and carry me out when I am finished...

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Gary!

For whatever reason, Isabelle would not sing along with just Riley...but she CAN sing "Happy Birthday"....at least sort of. Not like it's perfectly clear or anything, but she does sing it. Sorry about their orphan-like appearance...the messy hair and all. We are rarely all ready for the day before noon...unless we have something scheduled otherwise. Anyway, we are excited to see you in a few weeks! Have a great weekend!

Sister Missionary

I got a call last week from my mom who informed me that a Young Woman from the branch I grew up in was going on a mission. JoLayne Cline. I hadn't seen her for years, probably the last time I really talked to her was 4-5 years ago. So I was pleasantly surprised to learn she was heading out here. She has no family out here and didn't know anyone in Utah until someone back home hooked us up. I picked her up at the airport yesterday and she hung out with our family for one evening. Then this morning I took her to the MTC and dropped her off. I felt really badly not staying with her but I know she is pretty independant, she is a grown girl, after all. But she told me she was feeling really nervous so I felt bad for her. She decided to go on a mission hoping that maybe she would get to go somehwere exotic and Spanish speaking (she has been living in Hawaii the last while)....but no luck. She will be serving in the Utah Ogden mission!!! I hope she likes Utah. I know she will have lots of wonderful experiences. The girls really liked playing with someone new and I think Sister Cline actually had fun with them, too :)
Here is a photo before we headed to the MTC

Sweetest girl in the whole wide world...

This post is for Isabelle. If there were a perfect age/stage in her life, this is it. She is a really happy girl. She has her moments of course, but generally, she is just an absolute JOY. I really, honestly think she is the sweetest little girl EVER! Don't worry, I am not partial or anything! ;) I wish I could freeze her just as she is now for awhile....because soon there will be no trace of baby in her at all, she IS a toddler technically anyway...but she is still my baby. And heaven knows I LOVE babies! But when the baby part is over and gone...for me personally, not so much fun. Especially the terrible two's! Anyone who is around Riley enough knows she is a fun girl...but watch out for the tantrums and other challenges that come with the age.

Isabelle is SO smart. She will repeat things she hears us say and will try to pronounce anything we ask her. She is part monkey considering her love of climbing and part Tigger as she LOVES to bounce! She loves music and likes to dance...though I think most tiny tots like dancing/wiggling. She loves her sister and wants to play with her but also is very good at playing by herself sometimes. She loves reading books and RUNNING as fast as her legs can carry her. One of Trav's favorite things about Izzy is how she will stand or walk around with her arms behind her back.
She is so close to being able to sing her whole alphabet....and anytime she sees letters on anything she will go point to them and say "A, B, C"; we need to work on recognizing which letter is which though...
One of my favorite things about her is how cuddly she is. She gives the best hugs and is such a snuggler! It devastates me to think this may not last....but maybe it will. A mom can hope, right?
She can be a little bit independent, but still mostly needs help. "Help we" is how she asks for help. She can be needy for attention sometimes, and while her timing isn't always convenient, it reminds me that she is still a baby and she needs her mom or dad. Because she isn't as independent as her big sister who likes do so a lot (not everything, but a lot) for herself.
This hat is really stinking cute...we bought it for Riley, but Ri won't keep it on like Isabelle does. Isabelle is cautious around people she doesn't know or hasn't seen for awhile but if she is around them for a little while, she warms up. Some of her favorite people that she asks for are Aunt Kim, Hailee, Uncle Johnny, Aunt Dana, and Camryn.
We can ask Isabelle to go get something, and she will go right to it, know exactly what we want, and bring it to us, no additional instructions needed. Riley is totally opposite. She knows what we want usually but is sort of aloof and clueless and will look right past what we ask her for... no matter how we try to explain or tell her where the item is.Izzy LOVES her blanket and asks for it a lot. She also loves her nap time and bedtime, and sometimes even asks for it before we offer. But if we ask if she wants to take a nap or go night-night, she often replies, "Yes." I love that she says Yes and not yeah. or ya. She will tell me "no" sometimes but usually when you would expect to hear it... like when I ask her if she needs a time out, she will say "NO!"
She also loves milk. And she is a good eater with the exception of mac n cheese and grilled cheese...which is weird, because she loves cheese. The girl loves lettuce, again unlike Riley who seems to only eat it if we are at Olive Garden...it must be the salad dressing. Who could blame her? It IS tasty.
Isabelle's favorite food is probably strawberries (or "strawbabies" as she calls them).
Isabelle has full blown conversations when no one is listening and while they aren't necessarily intelligible...it is so fun to listen.
At night, I check on her before I go to bed...and I usually ache to just scoop her up and hold her or bring her to bed and snuggle her all night. I resist this urge, as we aren't really the type to keep our kids in bed with us, except on extremely rare occasions when one is sick/sad/whatever. And even then, it's very rare if that is a whole-night type of deal. But she is just so precious and changing fast. And I am SO SO SO sad!!!!!!!!!!
I know there is so much I am forgetting to document about Izzy at almost 17 months old...but at least this is SOMETHING! At this moment she is sitting in a little princess chair with her blanket reading herself a book. Out loud. So cute!

Stayed tuned for a future post about Riley and her current likes, dislikes, attitudes, and quirks... It may take me some time....considering my recent blogging history has been minimal...but oh well.