You Dropped A Bomb on Me!

For those of you who really know Alexis and her character, this will be hilarious. For those of you who don't know her so well, this is great insight that she is truly 7 1/2 going on 16. This morning she was in her room playing and we heard her singing. At first we couldn't figure out what she was singing. Upon further investigation, this is what we heard.......too funny! I love how she just went right along with the flow of being recorded.

Weekend Getaway

Last weekend we took a little weekend trip to Springfield, MA. We stopped at the Yankee Candle Factory on the way. Believe it or not, it's one of the girls most favorite places to go. They love to look around at all the different seasonal decorations and more importantly, dip their own candles. We spent the rest of the weekend lazing around our hotel room while watching the Olympics, swimming in the hotel pool, and checking out the local malls for school clothes. We had such a fun time just hanging out as a family ~ nobody wanted to come home!

Mom, do we really have to take this picture?

Professional candle dippers

Cruising in the "convertible"

The type of guys Rick made the girls promise to NEVER bring home!

A favorite pastime NEVER allowed at home or if we are staying at YOURS!

One too many jumps on the bed and laps in the pool make for tired girls!

Daddy tortures the girls with early morning wake-up pictures. (Alexis got annoyed, Julee just ignored...)

Cool kids!

Olympic Fever

Olympic fever has hit New York! It doesn't matter that it's well past midnight here - we are LIVE in Beijing and the USA is on a medal roll! Here are some candid shots of Julee and Alexis celebrating the GOLD medal, world record shattering win in the men's 4x200 free relay. Go USA!

(Just like the Olympics, this dislpay of sisterly love only comes around once every 4 years)

Movie Night

So last night I ran away from home to go to the movies with some of my friends. We saw Mamma Mia! - have you seen it? It was quite a fun movie ~ we had to practically restrain one of the girls from jumping up and dancing in the middle of the theater! Of course, you have an all star cast of pretty great voices. Meryl Streep was quite impressive as were here 2 best buddies in the movie (one of who was the actress who played Mrs Weasley in Harry Potter). Colin Firth continues to be wonderful (as always) and could carry quite a tune. We all found it comforting to know that Pierce Brosnan sits just this side of perfection - the poor guy really can't sing. He does get an E for effort and continues to be one of the most romantic leads around.

Also, I think one of the big draws was that we all knew most, if not all, the songs in the movie. That pretty much dates us back to the 70s and early 80s when I can remember listening to my favorite ABBA song "I Have a Dream" on record. (Julee just asked me what a record is!) What is your favorite ABBA song?

Comfy and Cozy

This past weekend both girls got new comforter sets for their beds. Of course we had to look at millions (okay maybe hundreds) of comforter sets at many different stores before they decided, but decisions were finally made. You must know Rick was absoluetly thrilled (really he was) when we ended up going back to 2 separate stores to purchase the winners! Who would have thought he was such a shopper? That makes one of us! Anyway, here are the "new beds".....

Julee said it was about time her room emerged into the 21st century.....

Alexis said she was too old for Barbie and prefers to showcase her friends rather than herself. It took quite awhile to get this picture "exactly right".

Tell me again why we bought Alexis a new bed set when she prefers to sneak in and cuddle up on our bed every night? Though I must admit that finding her there is so comforting to me - it's not too often anymore that she is still my baby girl.....

Julee's Coming Home!

Julee will be home on Thursday morning! I am sure we are looking forward to her return more than she is. What GREAT fun she has had with Grandma and Grandpa Bear, Jay and Ali, Kristy and Garry, Cindy and Kevin, Jenn, Kylie, Zoey, Noah, Sammy, Stone, Tyler, Nikki, Kim, Tiff, Scott and Marianne, Maycee, and Parker. She also saw a lot of people in Grandma's ward that knew her even though she didn't remember them.

Julee, Kylie, Noah, & Zoey

Julee and our friend Robin (Julee said it was kind of weird to talk to somebody she doesn't know who has known her since she was born)

Hodge Podge Post

Today I have a hodge podge set of pictures to share.....no real theme involved........

Alexis has been practicing taking self-portraits with the camera-she's getting pretty good.

The church has a missionary ad campaign in our mission where they put up billboards. This one is just up the road from our house.

Alexis cruising on her bike.