The scary gate @ the top of the stairs (Draft dated: 2/15/08)

Our home has 7 stairs going up, and 5 stairs going down. We put a gate at the top of the stairs to keep Rebecca & Mary-Gail contained and safe. I'm not sure that having the gate is safer than not having the gate, since they love to hang on it and look through the webbing. I don't know how much longer we'll be able to keep Rebecca & Mary-Gail away from the stairs!

Mary-Gail & Rebecca @ the scary gate

Mary-Gail & Daddy (1/29/08)

Rebecca escaped!

Becca blows kisses;

Daddy decided to teach them how to go down the stairs

Unpublished blog posts

I have 16 un-published blog posts! The first of which dates back to February 2008! I have been partly non-existent in the blogging world this month; I'm feeling an overwhelming amount of guilt of "being a bad mom", which is partly why my August posts have been non-existent, so until I get a booster charged to my system, I'll be posting these unpublished entries.

Speaking of booster charges, Mary-Gail got shocked earlier this month when she plugged in the TV. She & Becca plug in the TV, radio, lights, and then un-plug them, and have been doing this since I can't remember (I know, call Social Services on me). But, when Mary-Gail plugged the TV in during this occurrence at the beginning of August, she got shocked! She used her right hand, which her right thumb was wet from her sucking it, and ZZZZZ - Mary-Gail came running to me holding her right hand, and between cries said, "I just got stung."

Fun times in our "new" playhouse

Pixie & Arla were sniffing near the side fence, pulling me along with them, and that's when I saw it - this playhouse in my neighbor's back yard. We pass my neighbor's house daily on our morning walk, and stop in her front yard to collect snails & rolie-polies, but I had never noticed her playhouse before. Truth be told, I had been looking for one for months, and even "bought" one off of KSL.com. But, the seller called me back & said someone else called him about the playhouse and was offering him more money, and he was going to take that offer. Bummer.

So when I saw this playhouse, I decided to ask my neighbor if she was selling it. Turns out, she was going to put it up in her yard sale the following day!!! I screamed, and jumped up & down, and hugged her - all before telling her I wanted to buy it. We're so lucky!

Rebecca has perfected the "knock-and-run"

...and "breaking in through the window"

Rebecca drags Mary-Gail around by her shirt, and

Mary-Gail loves it!

Mary-Gail tries to run away, but Rebecca catches her anyways

More finds:

Picnic table & climbing gym were finds from KSL.com

Was thinking about selling her on KSL.com when she kept peeing in my house

(issue has been resolved...she's a keeper!)

Can you hear their laughter?

Church end-of-summer party

Our ward celebrated the end of summer with an outdoor party & swimming Friday night. The Activities Committee wanted a "Fiesta Theme" party. I volunteered to decorate (I'm glad the Activities Committee will let me help!), and with the help of my Lovey and two nephews, Isaac & Thomas, we were able to dress the pavilion. When we arrived at 3pm, we were met with strong winds & a down pour of rain, which delayed our decorating. We wondered if we were going to be able to swim - the pool had already evacuated everyone because the rain was so bad - but after about an hour the rain stopped & the winds calmed. I still had 3 pinatas to hang, but decided against them - partly because my helpers needed to get home, and partly because I was afraid everyone (adults included) would take swings at the pinatas. I'll be returning those pinatas on Monday.

The Activities Committee had a great feast for the ward: large tortillas, meat, refried beans, chips, diced tomatoes & chopped lettuce, nacho cheese sauce & grated cheese, plus the sides that other ward members brought: relish trays & homemade fudge, and the Bishopric provided Creamies for dessert.

Isaac & Thomas - without whom we would still be unloading food from the Activities Committee's cars!

Me & Lovey

Dinner for Mary-Gail & Rebecca consisted of: chips, grated cheese, & chocolate Creamies

Rebecca & Mary-Gail sitting on Auntie Carol's lap after swimming.

Swimming with the girls was such a delight! Rebecca went down the kiddie slide - twice - and was going to go for her third time when the person who was bringing her to me got distracted and "forgot" that Rebecca couldn't walk alone. The next thing I see is Rebecca face-down in the water!!! Adrenaline shot through me as I snatched my drowning daughter out of the water and mouthed off to everyone. They were just inches from Rebecca and didn't notice! Rebecca's face showed the most horrifying look as she continued to cough up water. No more having other people help me - Rebecca was glued to my hip from then on.

We moved to the other pool, and within seconds Mary-Gail was face-down in the water. Seriously?! The excuse this time was, "the pool is slippery." Didn't I just eat you all alive with Rebecca's near drowning? I glued Mary-Gail to me from then on.

Aside from my daughter's near-death experiences, they had a good time. Rebecca wanted to go down the "big, giant slide," so Lovey took her. And then MG wanted to go, so up we went. I could hear Tony & Becca's "whoo-hooo"s as MG & I went down the slide. Our girls love tunnels, and we all say, "whoo-hooo!" when we go through a tunnel, so I was thrilled to hear Becca & Tony holler as they went down. My face was sore from smiling & laughing as MG's little voice hollered her version of "whoo-hooo!" That was cute!

The girls were shivering so badly - to the point that their whole frame shook and wouldn't stop. Tony & I couldn't get their shivers under control, so sadly we left the pool earlier than anticipated. We wrapped their little bodies (twice) in our beach towels, and held them close as we walked back to the pavilion to share our experiences with Aunt Carol & Uncle Jack. Rebecca & Mary-Gail sat on Aunt Carol's lap, still shivering, as they told Aunt Carol about the pool and the slide. Uncle Jack gave the girls their 3rd Creamie of the night, and the girls' shivers didn't stop them from eating the Creamies either! I hope Aunt Carol & Uncle Jack are prepared to give the girls their daily does of insulin! lol

Enjoying our backyard

I normally mow our backyard on Saturday, but I didn't want to wait 4 more days. And I'm glad I didn't: we love playing in our backyard, and we love playing with our Daddy.

I found a shell while mowing the lawn and gave it to Tony to give to Rebecca, who just loves shells! Tony did a magic trick with the shell (it "appeared out of no where!") and both Rebecca & Mary-Gail were amazed with their Daddy's "magic hands." Then Tony put the shell in one hand, mixed up his hands, and had the girls guess which hand the shell was in. They're nobody's fool - they knew every time!

Oh, I just love these two pictures!

Rebecca was twirling around Tony's legs; and then Tony caught her!

ArlaMae always has to have a picture of her :)

Won't you come play with us?

"I'm running for life"

The girls & I took our "doggie sisters" for our walk this morning, and this is what Mary-Gail kept saying to me as she was running ahead of me - "I'm running for life, Momma. I'm running for life."

When we got home, Lovey was home from one of his jobs, and I asked Mary-Gail to tell Daddy what she said to me as we walked our doggies.

Morning-time memories of the temple

Saturday, August 1st, I woke to Rebecca's call of , "Mommy, come get me. Mommy. Mommy, open the blinds!" (@ 6:42am). I snatched Her Cuteness out of her crib, changed her "stinky-skunk poo-poo's," & pajama bottoms, and was getting ready to change her shirt too when Becca said to me,

Becca: "I wanna sleep with Miguel."

Me: "You do? We just got you up"

Becca: "Pweese

OK, Becca & Miguel never say "please" because they always sign it. So when Becca said "Pweese" with her cute, I-can-do-no-wrong-and-you-love-me-so-much voice, I couldn't say no. In went Rebecca with sleepy-sleeper Miguel.

Mary-Gail dreamt about ox

Mary-Gail was mesmerized by the ox. She spoke of the ox "down there", and the water in the baptismal font, and the steps leading to the water, and the steps we had to climb throughout the temple. (We climbed a billion flights of stairs!) Becca kept saying to us, "I go to my temple! I go to my temple!"

The chandeliers were so amazing - they were star-shaped and were ginormous! There were two men behind us, one of whom wasn't familiar with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint temples. I was pleasantly reminded from the other gentlemen of why we have temples, the importance of eternal families, and the importance of sealing us to our ancestors. During the temple tour we were able to sit in one of the sealing rooms and listen to a couple briefly describe what the sealing room was for. Me & Mary-Gail & Carly & Becca were sitting in chairs right in front of the "mirrors that go on forever - the eternal, celestial mirrors." It was fun holding Mary-Gail & Becca in front of those mirrors showing them eternity. I hope they remember it!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open-House

Happy are We! Happy are We! We (Mom, CarCar, Jo & Jed + all 4 kidlets, & Me + twins) were able to attend the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house on Thursday night, July 30th. We had reservations for 6:00pm, and although we arrived early there was an enormous amount of attendees in line from earlier reservation times. We knew we would have a wait, but didn't exect a 45 minute wait in the blistering afternoon/evening heat! Happily, all 6 kids (8 if you include me & Jed [hee-hee]) did OK.

Jo & I decided that I should take the littles to the potty before we got inside the temple, so I snatched Miguel & Cy and we walked, and walked, and walked, and walked to the other side of the temple to the restrooms. Oh My Goodness! That little excursion took nearly 20 minutes and afterwards we couldn't find Jo & the gang. They had already entered the temple. I resolved to sit outside with the kids and play in the fountain and wait for the gang, but Jo (who I love, love, love!) wouldn't have it and came running out to find us! We each grabbed our child and squeezed through crowds of people trying to catch up to Jed, Mom & Car. Phew!

The Oquirrh Mountain Temple was beautiful! Such craftsmenship, detail, simplicity of design. Everything was perfect and pure and clean. The last temple dedication I attended was when I was a little girl and my family went through the Jordan River Temple. I still remember that experience: wearing booties over my shoes, sitting in the chapel and watching a video, trying to be quiet as we walked through, and my dress...oh, how I hated the 80's!

We had about a 45 minute wait in a long line before we reached the temple doors. Jo's kids had swim lessons that day, & then stayed to swim a couple hours longer with their friends & Auntie CarCar. Gage was tuckered-out! We think he might have had heat-exhaustion.

A close-up of my baby sister, CarCar, w/my favorite 1-year old niece, Taylor Bug

Rebecca (24 lbs) pushing her younger cousin, Cy (35 lbs).

Funny!

Rebecca & Mary-Gail "skating" along the fence line

Seriously, who lets their kids climb all over the temple grounds?

(come on! It was blistering hot, and we had a wait of nearly 45 minutes in line outside!)

Little Taylor Bug - my fave!

Me & Miguel; CarCar & Becca-Boo after the open house.

We had just made it through when Mary-Gail began to cry. A lady in front of us, who was volunteering as a Temple Guide, told Mary-Gail, "Oh, don't cry. There are cookies and water for you in the white tent over there." Mary-Gail's expressions changed from night-to-day: tears & sobs before any mention of cookies; happiness & laughter after (plus her incessant reminders that "there are cookies in the white tent, Mommy"). Cookies always save the day!

"My, what a big head you have..."

Our neighbor's, Scott & Tracy, gave Becca & Miguel a motorcycle bike helmet the other day (it was too small for Scott's daughter's to use any more). Becca & Miguel were ecstatic! Being that they love hats, this was just another "hat" to add to their wardrobe.

Becca tried the helmet on first:

My, what a big head you have sister!

And then it was Miguel's turn to try it on:

Don't worry - there was room in the helmet for Miguel's hand & thumb.

Always have to have that thumb accessible! (what am I going to do with that thumb?!)

And off come the helmet...WHACK!

I put the helmet away and came back into the kitchen to find this:

That's a screwdriver in our zucchini bread.

Mary-Gail had taken the slice of zucchini bread I left on the plate and was eating it (more like shoving the whole slice in her little mouth). It's not uncommon for the girls to push our bar-stools over to the counters and get food & other things, and Mary-Gail loves my tools, so...she stabbed the zucchini bread with the screwdriver. Take that!