23rd of July

The girls and I had a great afternoon up in the mountains, swimmin', eating treats, great conversation, and lots of laughs!

Chylie and Aniston
Megan and Aniston
My favorite girl!!
Me Megan and Chylie catchin some rays...

Aniston LOVED the water! She wasnted to be in it all the time. We took turns taking her out, we all got in together, and Aniston would stick her feet in if none of us would take her out. She couldn't get enough, and when the sun had fried us and it was time to go, she threw a fit! I'm so glad she's starting to love the water!!


Aniston walked over to this rock shelf and put herself down for a nap!

don't want to forget

Aniston calls me and Grammy "your highness" when she is frantic.
She pretends Shrek is with us. He comes most everywhere with us. Aniston holds his hand and loves on him.
Her new favorite movie is Charlotte's Web or "the pig movie" as Aniston calls it.
Her favorite book these days is Frog and Toad.
Aniston loves to have her finger nails and toe nails painted. She gets worried when we wash her hands that the polish is going to come off.
We walked to the bubble drink store a few days ago and got ourselves a drink and a package of Starburst and sat on the lawn of a East High's seminary building to cool off before our long walk home. We enjoyed every last one of those Starburst, and Aniston was opening them all by herself!
Aniston loves nursery. When church is over, she asks to go back to nursery.
She makes sure her shoes ALWAYS match her clothes, love it!
When she sees me putting on my make-up, she has to have some "lashes" too! It's kind of funny when half way through the day she has black smudges under her eyes.
Aniston wears some of my old temple shoes around and calls them her "glass slippers". She will pretend she is Cinderella, and run around the house, fall down, and kick one off. She then leaves it behind so the prince will find it!
We visited a friend of mine and her new baby. Aniston found some change they had and put it in her pocket. When I was helping her put her shoes on to go I noticed there was a little jingle in her pocket. She refused to say she had taken it, she told me it was given to her. I had a little chat about taking people's things that aren't ours while my friend had her head turned trying not to laugh out loud. I didn't think we would have that conversation at such a young age?!
Today we planned to go to the Zoo, but when I told Aniston plans had changed this is what she said to me(in a VERY serious voice) "you already told me we were going to the Zoo 3 times. stop talking mom, don't talk to me anymore."
Aniston still talks about having a brother and sister, but today when I told her that one of our friends had a baby boy, I also asked her if she wanted a brother or sister. She said no, so at least she's not disappointed(at least today) that one hasn't come.
Every time we see a guy on a bike, Aniston gets excited and asks me if it's Daddy. She chats about how daddy rides his bike for Big Ring, and then says "Go Big Ring, Go Daddy!" he's got her trained!!
She LOVES lips, which I have mentioned before many times, and she loves to put gobs and gobs of them on! She also eats it sometimes, YUCK! Aniston will ask for lips millions(I'm not exaggerating either) of times a day, and she always wants to hold them herself. If I don't let her she tries to convince me, by saying the things I say to her as to why I should keep them. If she isn't convincing(she's not) then she throws a fit.
Her newest thing is microphones. She has used her jump rope as one, and then we got her a play one and she is in love! Now her chatting non-stop all day long has an echo!
Aniston has a great intuition, and she will say the cutest things that make my day. Recently she told me "Momma I will take care of you don't worry." I don't worry, she's the best and I, along with Chris, love her!
love love love her..

all by myself

Aniston said her first prayer all by herself 7/21/2010. It made my heart melt. She is learning so much and doing so much..."all by myself".
She's also...
putting on her own shoes
eating better without help
drinks without a sippy top, sometimes(she can but doesn't want to)
singing many many songs: daddy comes home, follow the prophet, shrek, and singing to songs on the radio. she also makes up words to songs, but keeps the tune!
getting her clothes off herself
picks her outfit out each day(wears mostly dresses and skirts)
putting her toys away
helping vacuum and dust
putting clothes in the dryer
spelling her name
AND...
turning 3 in just a few weeks!

can we say FUN!!

F is for FRIENDS... particularly Rob and Megan
U is for unanamous...because that's how the voting went between the boat and waverunners
N is for necessary...it was VERY. Not hanging out with some people in over a year or even over a week is just bad. Especially when they are one of your besties(or leaving in 5 months...Rob)

Last weekend was just plain fun, and that's how summer should be.
Friday was full of fun. Rob was in town and Aniston and I hung out with him until Chris got home from work. We... went to Walmart, Rob gave a man money for drugs(really it was intended for food, but the guy took the money and walked in the opposite direction), turned on a one way road going the wrong direction and spoke a little French, ate Cafe Rio...yummmmm, and watched a movie!
We all met up at Grammy and Papa's and headed out to the lake. We meaning... Stefen, Bri(his fiance), Chris, Rob and me. We all rocked it; I'll admit it. The boat even started right up!!

the crew...
Chris, Jena Rob
Stefen and Bri (btw, they're getting married!)

Our tricks...
Rob and the back flip attempt
Rob's 360
Chris' grab
Jena's jump
Bri's first attempt
Stefen's barefoot attempt

Saturday we(Chris, Aniston, Rob, Megan,and I) headed up to Park City to ride the Alpine Slide. Aniston was nervous about going, but she loved it. She was saying weee the whole way down, and we were flying! Everyone made it down fast but with no crashes. Chris only had to stop to grab the keys that fell out. We then headed over to Main Street to shop. We also met up with Hutch whom I have not seen in over 2 years. After all that fun, we hurried home so Aniston could take a nap. She was making the 2 single kids NEVER want kids and driving her parents CRAZY!!!!! Rob and Chris ran to buy a stove and Megan and I solved the world's problems(actually just tried to solve our own). After the boys came back we laughed and laughed and laughed some more. Rob left and we were all sad. Hope it's not another year before we see him again. Megan and I ran to Gateway for some retail therapy and an excuse to drive around in the Jeep. Then we snagged a pizza, drinks, treats and a movie.
Can you believe we did all that in a weekend?! Amazing really.

Aniston and the crazy moose
us!
Megan, Aniston and I
Aniston and the bear

some moments

I had many moments today. Motherhood has made me more emotional. Everytime I looked at Aniston, I was tearing up. She's beautiful, everything about that sweet little girl is perfect!
She will be "3 to get married August 12" and I can't believe it( I love it when she says this). She wants a chocolate party. I'm thinking she will make life pretty easy if she makes requests as simple as this one. She has no requests when asked what she wants for her Birthday either, I better enjoy this right?! I can't wait to see what percentile she is in for height, most people guess that she is 4 sometimes 5.
She fell asleep in my arms today; this is rare. I probably kissed her a million times and tried to tell her how much I loved her, but I can't with words.

I can't believe I didn't post about this...

Father's day... hello where is my brain these days?! I didn't post a thing about Father's day, how rude am I?
I was talking to Aniston today about the fun 4th of July she had with Daddy and his Dad. We talked about how lucky her daddy was to have 2 dads!
I love what my mom said to me one day. She told me that dads play and interact with their kids when they are in charge and moms multi-task when they are in charge. I really try hard to remember this when I get home and the house is a mess and Aniston can't stop telling me how much fun she has had with her Dad. I wish I was more like a dad!
Dave gave me some great father in-law advise on Father's Day about Aniston...he told me to be grateful I had such a spit-fire daughter who knows what she wants and is in charge and so determined. It will be to her benefit as she grows up, and she will be a leader not a follower. I like that.
My dad is amazing...I am so much like him. So does that make me amazing...not yet! One day I hope to be as mild tempered, hard working, and as giving of my time as he is.
One reason I married Chris is because I knew he would be a great Father. He has so much unconditional love for Aniston, and patience like I've never seen. Aniston loves her sweetheart, and I love him too.
Greg is a very special Father too. He is always so sweet and so happy to see his son! I heard Aniston took a liking to Grandpa too, and that they went on a lot of walks to see the dogs...

bikes...

We're all about bikes at our house these days!
Chris has started a trend and has the rest of us hooked as well.
For our 5 year anniversary this year, I got a road bike from Chris because I was feeling left out.
I had a bad day last week, and Chris bought me more stuff for biking! Not that I like bad days, but hey I got some great stuff out of it!!
We went on our first ride with my new bike, and although it started out crazy we all made it home in one piece.
Chris usually has a bike race on Saturdays, and Aniston is his biggest fan!
He raced this past weekend, and I am glad he made it through and even more thankful the dumb, blind, old man didn't run my honey over on his way home.
I need a picture of my bike, but I wanted it to be all spiffed up before I snap a shot of it!


I rode this sweet tricycle when I was young, and I have peddled around on it with Aniston in my lap a few times before too. It's a tough little thing...


Why do 2 1/2 year olds go through this stage with the camera?? I want family pictures, but not if Aniston is going to look like this in all the photos...

He goes so fast and I think I develop a few ulcers each time he races.