Photo Shoot

As I was getting dinner ready tonight, I saw out of the corner of my eye, Mallory snapping a picture with my camera. I said, "Hey, Mal, please don't play with that camera, it's not a toy." Mallory responded with an "Okay mom, just one more." Then, she set the camera on the counter. A few hours later, Lindsie and I started looking through the pictures on my camera of her dance recital. I had forgotten that Mallory had my camera earlier. As we came across these pictures, they just kept getting funnier and funnier, until we were laughing so hard we could barely breathe. So here we go with Mallory's photo shoot.

First pic: of course a picture of a picture of herself. How cute

Second, a nice picture of a picture of our family. How darling

Oh, she even went outside to capture how beautiful and green everything is after the rain...

You can't forget about the sprinkler head, rock and bark chips. I love her little shadow...

And there there is the litter box.... how lovely. Lindsie and I started to laugh at this one....

I guess the scenery started to get boring and the self portraits began.... get ready for HILLARIOUS Mallory. How did she even know how to take a picture of herself... I can barely do it.???

Ha Ha Ha.... this girl is endless entertainment! Love ya Mallory!

Mal's Five!

Does this look like the face of a proud 5-year-old!

Mallory patiently waited a LONG time for her 5th birthday. Every day she would ask me if she was 5 yet. Afterall, 5 is a very important age...

It is the last time she can count her age on one hand.

This year, she will ride the bus and go to "big girl school."

She has learned to snow ski like a pro and

ride a 2 wheeler without training wheels

She is learning to read and write so well

She is totally over the "baby shows," and will only admit to watching ICarly, Wizards of Waverly Place and Hannah Montana. No more baby cartoons...or so she says, but I often catch her enjoying those baby shows.

She no longer requires assistance on swings... she can pump and reach the SKY!

She learned to tie a bow

and can swim totally unassisted like a little fish!

Mallory, you are amazing. Happy 5th Birthday. You bring so much joy and happiness to our home. But, mostly you make us laugh constantly.

Mallory invited all her friends over for a birthday party...

She has such a cute group of friends. I just love all these girls

Getting ready for the pinata!

Mallory's friend, Kenlee, gave her a flash jersy signed by all the players and the Flash Fox.

She was so excited

Grammy and Grampy gave her this cute little doll in a case with lots of fun clothes.

Happy 5th Mallory! Can't wait to see all the things you learn this year!

Ears Pierced

Today was a momentous occasion! I am the mom, so I get to make the rules. If I am at the mall and my daughter wants to get her ears pierced..... I say "YES, lets get your ears pierced." Now rewind 25 years ago. I was 12 years old and FINALLY got my ears pierced. My mom had a very strict rule about ear piercing in our family. TWELVE was the magic age to reach this exciting milestone. Who knows why the 12th year of life is the magic ear piercing age, but it was. Now I can't help but respect my mom for being consistent and not giving in, but I think I still am a little bitter about the whole thing. This was one of the biggest power struggles between my mom and I. I'm sure it's hard to believe, but when I want something, I don't stop until I get it. I begged my mom every single day to PLEEAAASSEEE let me get my ears pierced. I can't believe what a strong woman my mom was to hold fast to her rule.

So now, I am the mom, and this is my rule "My daughters can get their ears pierced whenever they ask to."

Today, I took Mallory and Emery to swim lessons. After swim lessons I had a quick errand at the mall. We had lunch at Chick-Fil-a, which was a lot of fun sitting at the small table and chairs with my knees touching my chin, having conversation with Mallory and Emery. They are so entertaining. We talked about all kinds of fun things. After lunch, they couldn't wait to go play on the Tree House play ground. We spent about 1/2 hour there and then I had to run into one store. As we passed Claire's, I said, "Hey do you girls want to get your ears pierced." Pretty sure this would never happen. They both replied, "NO!" As we continued walking, Mallory turned around facing the store and said, "actually mom, I do want to get my ears pierced." She began marching toward Claires. I still wasn't convinced she wouldn't chicken out. She picked out the cutest pink flower earrings and sat up on the big chair.

It's so nice they have two girls doing it at the same time.

All done...

Emery supporting and being excited for Mallory
After Mallory was done, I said "So Emery, do you want yours pierced?" She quietly nodded her head yes. "Are you sure? Should we call your mom." I dialed the number and handed Emery the phone, thinking she for sure would chicken out. It was so cute ... "mom, can I get my ears pierced." I'm sure Lisa was wondering what she was doing. After I talked to Lisa, we decided to let Emery go ahead and get her's pierced too. After all, BFF's do everything together, right?

Being soooo brave

Matching earrings!

They were both so brave, and didn't even shed a tear. I wonder how old Mallory's kids will have to be before they can get their ears pierced!!!

"

Holding Hands

Okay: this Post is dedicated to Lisa and Liz -- so they will stop harassing me about the holding hands picture.

Lisa and I have progressed our friendship to the next level:

Ha ha ha -- we really aren't holding hands, but it looks like we are. I don't know if anyone will ever believe us.

Crusing in the Caribbean

We just got home from PARADISE! Every other year, couples in our neighborhood go on a cruise together. This time we sailed to CoCo Cay Bahamas, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten on the Freedom of the Seas. What a fun experience we had. Nine couples came along and it was the perfect group (minus a few really close friends who couldn't make it this time, and were very much missed. You know who you are:)

It was so nice to escape the cold cold Utah weather, and go to the hot and humid islands of the Caribbean. With a wonderful family back home who helped out with the kids, they were well taken care of and hardly even noticed we were gone. It was such a nice break for Rick and I to spend some alone time together. We even got a massage one day on the ship! Talk about relaxing.

The whole group spent a lot of time together: eating (pigging out), hot tubbing, kareokee (making fools of ourselves), laughing our guts out, shopping on the islands, laying on the beach, hours working out in the gym (almost everyone), making friends with all the workers, setting off the sprinklers in the hall with a frisbee (Lewis' and Atkinsons', not to mention any names),going to shows, Dodgeball, losing bets and entertaining us (Kristi and Mont), taking naps, DaNcInG the nights away, visiting the "Milk Man," my boyfriend Gordon and Tara's female admirers, FLOWER, ice cream and cookie desserts for Susan, Bubba in a speedo and a tu-tu, Bubba peeing on his leg, the open-mouth birds while we were swimming in the ocean, Big Timmy, Kmart, the Utah Cheerleaders/missionaries, Liz's free personal trainer services, and did I mention laughing? I could go on and on about all the fun times.

Formal Nights....

Couples....

The Girls...
I have the best friends in the world! We are at a point in our lives where we have all been friends for so many years now, that we really know each other well. Our kids are all best friends and love to be together. When do you find so many couples/families that get along so well and have so much fun together? We laugh ourselves to the point of abdominal and cheek muscle exhaustion. I love that we are comfortable in our friendships, we can completely be ourselves and we appreciate each other. We are adults, we all just accept where we are in our life and enjoy each others company. I know we have many more years of friendship ahead!!

Johnny Rockets
We made ourselves right at home at Johnny Rockets! We went at least twice a day and got burgers, fries, onion rings, apple pie/icecream, and milkshakes. Yes, we consumed all that in one sitting... and we wonder why our clothes started getting tighter and tighter. Hmmmmm.

Here are two of our favorite waitresses: Sheryl and Elisabeth. They were so happy to see us everyday and told us that NO ONE comes to Johnny Rockets as much as we did. Sheryl, the one on the left, has 10 month old twin boys she left at home in the Philippines with her mother. She hasn't seen them since they were 4 months old and won't see them until June. Wow -- I can't even imagine that kind of life. I missed my kids terribly and it was only one week. Another reason to feel so blessed and fortunate to have my life.

We had to get up and dance with the servers when "Staying Alive" came on

And then there is Kristi, who just LOVES cruises and didn't want to go home!!! LOL

Sorry, Kristi, we have to go back to reality
(inside joke)