Big Girl Sami

I am so proud of my Sami Girl!

She is officially sleeping in her big girl bed-and loves it!

We have been telling her for awhile now that if she slept in her big girl bed, we would have a "big girl party." So we set Monday as the day to take down the crib, and I asked Grandma to come over on Tuesday morning for the party. Sami wanted cake, games, and presents. She's a girl who knows what a party is all about. ☺

On Monday afternoon, the crib came down. Sami said, "this bed is for babies, and I am not a baby." That's right. Oddly enough, Janie was the one freaking out, not Sami. I don't know what Janie was thinking that made her so upset. That night, we tucked Sami in, she asked for her baby bed once, and we told her it was for a baby, and she was fine. She slept all night, didn't fuss or get up. And she was so proud of herself in the morning and so were we! So we partied.

And she has been great ever since. She loves her big girl bed and loves to tell people how big she is.

I'm glad that there's one thing I can check off of my New Year's Reslotions. Now to finish potty training Janie...

The Phoenix Zoo

This week we went to the Phoenix zoo for the first time and it was a hit! Sami had a list of animals she wanted to see: a lion, a tiger, a baboon, and the monkeys. It was so fun to see the girls so excited. It was contagious. 

There were so many cool things to see, the girls had to get out of the stroller and run.

Janie loved this orangutan. It was such a special treat that he stayed by the glass so we could see him, and point at him, and take pictures of him.

The first ever camel ride for Jonathan and the girls!

We loved the lily pad.

And the carousel. We're big fans. 

After the lily pad, we wanted to go to the carousel, but there was a sign there that said the kids needed to be dry and sand free. So I started digging in the bag for the clothes while Sami just started stripping down. I turned around and she was naked in front of the carousel. I was laughing as I was trying to get her clothes on and she was like "what?" Oh, the innocence of children. 

I am thankful for the good memories made. 

Today is my sweetie's birthday. I made a list of 31 things I love about him, because we're celebrating his 31st birthday, but I will spare  you all the mushy stuff ☺. I will just say that I la-la-love being married to my best friend!! He knows me so well. He can tell by my text messages how I am feeling, he thinks my idiosyncrasies are cute, and he works so hard for us at home, at work, and at church. I am so blessed to have him for a husband.

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!

What's Up...

Chrissy-These past two weeks have been hard for me, on a personal level. I have struggled, but feel myself moving on, for which I am so grateful. I have issues, and I struggle with trying to be perfect and the resulting guilt and anxiety that is a result of falling short. My sweet and very patient husband and my wonderful mother have helped me so much as I have tried to gain a proper perspective. I love them. What would we do without our mothers?! Seriously...

Every year, I find myself loving my Savior even more. I have beeing re-reading "Believing Christ" and "Following Christ" by Stephen Robinson. These are great books and I highly recommend them.  I am so grateful for my Savior's love.

Jonathan-J is a very tired intern. These past few months have been exhausting for him and sometimes it seems like the light is just around the corner and other times it feels like it will never come. But he has a week off coming up and we are going to have fun!

Sami-Sami is in love with games! She loves all board games and thanks to yard sales, we have quite a few of them. I try to play a game with her at least once a day, although she would like me to play with her all day. She is growing up so fast. I am sad to say that the tattling stage is here. She often comes to me and says something like, "Mom, Sissy said no to me. Can you talk to her?" And I know Janie will start in soon, it's just a part of childhood. I remember tattling on my siblings even when we were teenagers! (Sorry about that, Rachel and Dave!) 

Janie-Janie is still struggling with potty training. She is on a Miralaax regime which makes it harder, poor thing. But she is talking so good, and still has her ferocious appetite. She is still a cuddle bug, and I love that. 

Easter 2011

We had a wonderful Easter! We had two parties, one at Grandma Olsen's house and one at our house on Easter weekend. I will hopefully post some pictures from Grandma's party soon, but this post is from the party at our house.

We dyed eggs on Saturday when Daddy got home. We have this little toy where you put in the dye then put in the eggs, and when you push down the button, it tye-dyes the egg. This was the highlight of the event.

We all wore our matching aprons from Grandma while dying the eggs.

We also had an egg hunt on Sunday afternoon. I love the determined look on Janie's face. And see the chalk on the walls of our fence? This keeps the girls entertained for minutes, if not hours!

Sami knew the eggs had candy. Jonathan and Aunt Tami ate a few of the treats in the eggs before the hunt, and Sami would leave those eggs on the ground. She is too smart for her own good!! (And she was so fast running around finding eggs that I didn't get any great pictures, but I love this one of her eating candy. It pretty much sums up the afternoon and accounts for the sugar high she had that night.)

One of the details from Easter that I want to remember is that Sami was worried that the Easter bunny was going to come in our house and take her purple bear from Grandma. I have no idea why she thought this! But we finally convinced her that the Easter bunny only gives us stuff, doesn't take stuff. 

We are so blessed to have Aunt Tami and Grandma close by so they can join in the party.

Of course the best part of Easter is church. I love that my girls were matchy-matchy.

 I am so grateful for our Savior, who gives us everything of value: hope, joy, peace, forgiveness, and love. 

Happy Easter!

Camera L♥ve

I still don't know what I'm doing (and probably won't for awhile), but I've learned if you take 100 pictures, a few are sure to turn out. ☺

I'm 32.

So my birthday is on Sunday. I will be 32. I don't feel like I should be 32. I feel like I should be 19, but I am so glad that I'm not 19! :) Since J is on call on Sunday we celebrated today. It was fun. We had pizza, and J bought me roses and a cake. And I got my dream present...(drum roll, please)...

A Nikon D90 DSLR! EEEeeeekkkkk!! (It's a fancy schmacy camera ☺)

I love it. Jonathan loves it too. He has played with it more than I have so far :). Let me tell you the story how I got it.

I have been wanting one for a long time. It's the next step in my love affair with Photoshop. So I have been looking for one for awhile now. And I knew J was looking too, for my birthday. So I decided to help him and I bought this one used from a lady on a photography forum. I got a super amazing deal and could barely hold back my enthusiasm.  

Two days after I bought it, Jonathan came home and said he had to take a board exam in May that costs $800. WHAT?! Who takes $800 tests?! Apparently residents do. I was so upset. (But he told me to get ready because he has to take a $2000 test to get board certified in a year and a half. Thanks for the warning. It will give my heart time to prepare.)  So I was ready to send my camera back. I really wished I could have. But I bought it used. From a lady in Canada. No go. 

But Jonathan has been so sweet and encouraged me to enjoy my camera guilt free. So I am working on it.  The reason there are no pictures is because I don't know how to work it. Jonathan has been snapping pictures of me but I believe I can't work it unless I read the manual. At least twice. Weird, I know.

But I have had a great birthday. I feel so, so blessed in my life. I realize I have so much more than I deserve.  I have been afraid to say that I am happy because I was afraid that something would happen to take that away. But I really am so happy. So I love being 32.

And, can I just say how much I love having a romantic husband. In his birthday card to me, he said "When my body is exhausted and I don't think I can get myself out of bed, I look over at you and I get up and keep going." Man, I love him!!!