Fun Family Time

Monday, 8/12--We went to Bridal Veil Falls to feed the fish at the bottom.  Makenna loved walking across this bridge:

 Avery and Daddy--don't the girls look so adorable sporting their shades? :)

 Feeding the fish:

 AAAAAAAAW!

 Jared carried them across the shallow pool at the bottom of the falls so they could sit on this big rock, then throw rocks:

 

 

 Then, a pic with Mommy in front of the Provo River:

 After we left the falls, we stopped at Maverick and got some hot dogs and stuff, then went and ate dinner and played at the park by our old house in Orem:

 Avery was too scared to go down the slide at first, ha ha:

 

 

Tues., 8/13--I think I've posted about this deer & fawn that Makenna LOVES, which she named Coo-coo and Gooby all on her own:

Well, it was kind of creepy to see it in the video monitor last night since it wasn't there when we put her to bed! She sure loves those deer, though.  She must have reached down and pulled it into bed with her at some point.

 My friend, Elli Bounds, who grew up in the same ward as I did, has lived in Utah, and now lives in South Africa, was here for a visit and she and one of her friends came over and hung out for a while, then I went out to lunch with them at Buffalo Wild Wings while Jared stayed home with the girls.  It's always awesome to hang out with people from back home.

Thurs., 8/15--we roasted weenies and s'mores and played in the back yard:

 

 

 

 

 Friday, 8/16--The twins had a dentist appt. They were so excited to use the new princess toothbrushes they got from the dentist. And they had to sleep with the little plastic monkeys they picked from his treasure chest. Makenna only showed him her teeth when he bribed her with the Belle toothbrush. And he was able to see Avery's teeth when she cried, ha ha. This visit was better than last time so I hope they keep getting better each time.

Kiki and a friend (and Kiki's kids) came over that night so we could practice a song we're doing for Kiki's graduation from the emotional release school she has been attending.  It was nice to have something to make me practice/play the piano!

Sat., 8/17--Jared went up to his mom's house and they went and helped his Grandpa with some stuff.  While he was gone, this bird, which I think is a Whip-poor-will, was chillin' on our deck rail.  It let me come within just a couple of feet of it but flew away when Avery came running around.

I wished for thunder the other week and I got it yesterday. We got some really loud cracks of thunder! It scared the crap out of Makenna. It was so funny. She came bolting in, crying to me. She cried every time it thundered, poor thing. It was nice to sit and listen to the thunder, even though I had to keep reassuring the girls.  Avery kept saying, "It's just funder" over and over again.  Once we sat at the window together and watched the lightning and I told them the thunder was the sound that lightning makes, they were OK with it.

Grandma came with Jared last night and spent the night and she came to church with us today.  It was so nice to have two other adults in sacrament meeting with me and the girls!  :)  Everyone is napping right now except for me.  Aaaah, quiet time.  :D

Funny tidbits from the past few days:  
*I made homemade salsa and Makenna tried some of it and cried because it "hurt her tongue". Oops.
*I made a shrimp and corn soup the other last night and warmed some up for lunch the next day and Makenna said she smelled cat food, which she hates smelling, haha. She always complains about the smell when I feed the cat.
*Avery won't eat the peaches Jared just picked from our tree because they're not cold. A few nights ago, she said chips make her feel better. 

Another month gone!

Yikes, has it really been a month since I posted here?  Every Sunday, I compile a big picture-filled email to my BIL, Jason, who is on a mission in Scotland.  I guess it feels like I'm doing my blog, so the actual blog goes out the window.  So here is a long catch-up and I have GOT to start doing better about posting more regularly so I don't have a hundred pictures to post (since I always have a really difficult time weeding out pics of my beautiful girls)!

Going all the way back to 7/12, here are some photos from the Crittenden reunions:
Avery recently started this new thing where she crosses her fingers a lot:

Home made ice cream!

Makenna pointing out the ice cream on Avery's mouth.

Grandpa telling everyone stories:

The siblings took this picture and texted it to DeAnn as a joke since she wasn't there--that's Chad under the trash bag.

The trial that I was supposed to do jury duty for last Monday, 7/15, was cancelled.  Woohoo, ha ha!  I could still be called up again any time between now and the end of Sept., though.  Jared was supposed to leave on a trip Tues. morning, 7/16, but he kept putting it off and finally left late Fri. night,7/19.  Besides Jared swimming in our pool with the girls one day, the only other really fun thing we did was go to the aquarium on Tues., 7/16:

Oh, and Wed. night, 7/17, we decided last minute to go eat at Culver's, then go play at the park afterward.

Thegirls were still playing with, and fighting over, a few of balloons left over from my party and had popped all but one, so I bought a package of balloons and Jared blew them up and tied some of them together for the girls.  Avery said they were butterflies.  It doesn't take much to make them happy.  :) (7/18):

So,like I said, Jared left Friday night, 7/19, so I had to do church with the girls by myself on 7/21.  It was fine until Makenna hit her mouth on the pew in front of us about 15 min. before sacrament was over.  So I took both of them out, due to Makenna screaming her head off.  One of my friends came out to help and we were able to go back in with 10 min. left.  I'm at least glad I got to hear the YW sing a song today.  They had camp this past week and it made me a little sad that I'm not involved with girls' camp here.  Their song made me tear up.  I'm not sure if it was because I could see all these beautiful young women and feel their spirits or if I was thinking of my daughters being young women before I know it.  I did feel the Spirit, though, and it made me proud of the youth in our church.

Doingchurch by myself with the twins is exhausting.  Especially since I'm now in nursery with them!  We had 9 kids in our class today (the other two nursery classes all had a lot of kids today, too) and they were all a little crazy today so I was worn out after church.  We did go for a walk around the block (only took us 30 min. and I didn't have to carry anyone, woohoo!) after our naps, even though it was 92 degrees at 6:30pm.

Tues., 7/23, was our 14th anniversary and Jared was still out of town.  Boo!

Here's how the rest of that week went:

7/22--Teresa and her family came by and spent a few hours at our house.  The kids (everyone except for Makenna, because the water was too cold) went swimming and they had a great time playing together.

We tried to get a decent photo of all of them together but this was the best one, ha ha:

Thegirls were being really silly after dinner that night.  Makenna had this crown on and put it over her eyes so she could see through the "windows".  Avery said she was a super hero, ha ha!

7/23--post on FB: Ha ha, Makenna just picked up a jalapeno from the garden that was sitting on the table and took a bite out of it. And cried. That'll teach her not to eat stuff without asking first. No, probably not but it was funny.

7/24, Pioneer Day--the girls and I went to our ward party, where there was a band, tons of food, and lots of big fireworks.  The girls had a blast dancing, rolling around in the grass, eating chips and cookies, playing with friends, and watching the fireworks.

They lay down on the blanket next to each other to watch the fireworks.  It was pretty darn cute.

7/26--Thegirls went visiting teaching with me, then we went grocery shopping.  While they were napping, I set up their new booster seats, so they will no longer use the high chairs.  They love sitting at the table.  This was their first meal in them that night:

And this was their second meal the next morning (corn flakes and milk on the chairs and floor); I was kind of missing the high chairs at that point, ha ha):

7/27--post from FB: Makenna is giving Avery a pretend haircut and saying, "Avery, you need a haircut!" I'd better go and make sure all of the scissors in the house are hid. The funny thing is they haven't actually had a haircut yet. Their dad just threatens any time their hair is in their eyes.

Kiki went to Tucanos with me and the girls that afternoon so I could use my free birthday meal coupon there.

And 7/28 was another Sunday without Jared.  It actually went really well.  The girls were super good in sacrament meeting.  But Makenna got a little crazy during singing time in nursery.  She is starting to act out more and more and being a little stinker.  Just a short phase, hopefully!  She has also started bullying Avery a little--bear hugs her and pushes her around the room, then falls on her.  Avery freaks out, ha ha!  Makenna is also a little bossy to Avery.  It's kind of funny but I try to contain it, as I don't want her to be one of those little bossy kids that annoys everyone.  She can also be so very sweet, loving, compassionate, and affectionate, though.  They are both starting to do more and more on their own, which is very helpful to me and my back and neck.  They get in and out of their car seats now by themselves.  Hallelujah!

The next week wasn't all that exciting, with Jared still out of town, but here are some cute pics of the girls and some cute things they said:

7/28: Makenna said she had the "hippups".

7/30: It was an awesome evening for eating out on the deck, then swinging on the swings.

7/31: Makenna counted backwards from 5.  Avery melted my heart with, "Sorry, Mommy, I didn't mean to!", even though I'm sure she meant to throw those puzzle pieces, ha ha.  Makenna has this finger puppet narwhal that she calls her "nordwhale":

The girls watched Doc McStuffins that morning so they were giving their baby dolls a checkup later that day, ha ha!

8/1: I was at my computer and the girls were coloring at their table and Makenna told me she was drawing a picture of Jesus.  :)

I got a massage from someone in my ward who just graduated from massage school and it was great!

8/3: I bought this for the girls from one of those indoor yard sale groups for $10. While I was setting it up, Avery said, "It's amazing!" They love playing in it. 
Avery has been calling it the temple. After naptime, she wanted to go read in the temple.

The girls watched an episode of Bubble Guppies where one of the characters had a tooth that was loose, then fell out. Now Makenna keeps saying her tooth is falling out, ha ha!  And here they are chowing down on cherry tomatoes from our garden on 8/3.

8/4: After their nap, they went and had a snack and read books in their train tent.  They have quite the little set-up in there now:

Here's how last week went down:

Monday, 8/5: [FB post]--I just cleaned up the 5th spill of the day (three milks, one water, and one V8). As I was cleaning it up, I said, "Aw, you spilled again?!" and Avery said, "This is aggravating!" Hahahahaha!!!!

The girls were taking turns riding on each other's backs and laughing hysterically. So cute to see them playing together and having fun.

Tues., 8/6: A little tea party at their table in my scrapbook room:

[FB post]--
So the girls and I are down in my scrapbook room and Chloe, our cat, is meowing incessantly (I probably need to go feed her); Makenna just turned to her and yelled "Go upstairs!" HA HA HA! Can't stop laughing.

Jared got home Thurs. night, 8/8, ~10:30pm.  The girls were happy to see him the next morning.

Fri., 8/9: We converted the cribs to toddler beds that night. So far, so good. They stay in bed for naps and bedtime and they stay in bed until we go get them in the morning.  They are such sweet girls. Hopefully, they'll keep it up! Trying not to be sad about getting rid of one of the last baby things with them, though.

This is after we converted them, before their bath--they were so excited about the change!

And this is after their bath, ready for bed:

Sat., 8/10: Before eating at Winger's for lunch, Jared played dress-up with the girls:

[Makenna doesn't look happy in this pic because she wanted Jared to put ALL of the dress-up clothes on her but they wouldn't all fit--such a funny girl!]:

[Aaaaaaaaaw!!!!]:

Well, this is  REALLY long post, so I'll stop here and post about this week over the weekend.  TTFN!!