Octobers Random Ramblings

• As we have been getting used to living in a new place I have been getting my bearings. Needless to say, I have taken a wrong turn here or there. One night on our way home I had to make a u-turn and I heard a sweet little voice in the back say, "Oh no, Mom is leading us on a wild goose chase again!"
• When Abby and/or Olivia are being goofy I ask "Where do you guys come from?" One day Abby replied, "From the moon Mom. We came down in a raindrop through the roof of the van. I was strong enough to hold my baby sister. And that is how we got into this family." Ok then!
• Lots of people ask how old the girls are and Abby proudly says "4, and this one (pointing to Olivia) started out at 7 months but now she's almost 1!"
• Abby is very chatty in the car, and one day she was talking about Bucky and asking when we could get a dog again. I told her we probably wouldn't be getting another pet till after Andrew was done in the Air Force. For some reason her next question was, "well, when that happens can we get 3 puppies?" I told her I thought that would be too much work, and she said, "Well, I will take care of one, Daddy can take care of one, Olivia can take care of one, and you can just relax!"
• When Abby wants to say she is sorry for something, she says "Mommy, I want to apology for ____."
• The girls and I went shopping at the Halloween store to look for some costumes. As we were going in Abigail informed me that "since I am 4 now, I'm not afraid of ANYTHING!" Well, there were some pretty spooky things in there and there were a few things she didn't really want to look at. She tried to put on a brave face and I left it alone...heck, some of it scared me a bit. On the way out she stressed once again that she is not scared she was "just a little nervous,"
• One day Abby called from the bathroom, "Hey Mom, guess what? My pee smells like popcorn!"
• On Olivia's birthday Abby and I were talking about birthdays and getting older as we were in the car. At the end of the conversation she said, "Mom, when we get home I am going to write a letter to God and ask him to stop my birthday's when I turn 7 because I don't want to get any older than that."
• When we went away for the weekend to the Grand Canyon we stayed in a cabin in Flagstaff. The first night we were they had a campfire cookout of hotdogs, hamburgers and s'mores for dessert. Abby seemed to really enjoy herself but after she was done eating her s'mores she got a little bored. She kept asking if we could go back inside and then finally looked at me very seriously and said, "Mom I just can't take it anymore" I asked what she couldn't take and she said, " I just can't take any more of the outdoor worldness tonight!"
  

Sportin' some Halloween Jammies

My Sweet Little Witches

Intel 5K Race

This past Saturday morning Andrew and I did the Intel 5K race. The girls came with us and we pushed them in the double stroller, well Andrew did most of the pushing but I did help a little bit! The race was actually a lot of fun and both girls did really well sitting in the stroller and not whining or crying. We got a lot of cheers from the crowd when we would come by, from what I could tell we were the only ones with a double stroller!

Here are the stats, the time is off by a few seconds because Andrew forgot to press stop when we crossed the finish line but its close enough:
Name: Track 004
Date: Oct 24, 2009 7:57 am
Distance: 3.14 miles
Elapsed Time: 34:19.9
Avg Speed: 5.5 mph
Max Speed: 6.8 mph
Avg Pace: 10' 57" per mile
Min Altitude: 840 ft
Max Altitude: 1,104 ft
Start Time: 2009-10-24T14:57:17Z
Start Location:
Latitude: 33.272334º N
Longitude: 111.826551º W
End Time: 2009-10-24T15:31:37Z
End Location:
Latitude: 33.272090º N
Longitude: 111.826845º W

It was an early morning for my girlies and a bit chilly!!

Abby and Olivia "dancing" before the race

Olivia and Abigail eating the free bagels before the race started.

Andrew and the girls before the race

The Intel Rescue Wagon

Me pushing the stroller during the race

Olivia's 1st Birthday

Olivia's actual birthday was pretty low-key since we had just gotten back from our trip to the Grand Canyon the day before, however, it was not lacking in birthday traditions! We went out for lunch to celebrate before Ana had to go home to Colorado. We went to Red Robin and after her meal Olivia enjoyed some of her birthday sundae. She didn't really know what to do with it as you can see.....
Then, later that night we had a small family celebration with dinner, birthday hats, and of course some cake. Olivia made more of a mess than Abby did at that age, but she seemed to be playing with it more than actually eating it. I guess she liked the way it felt squishing between her fingers and rubbing it in her hair!

My Birthday Girl before the cake mess!

My girlies...I think its funny that they are both kind of posed the same with their hands up!

Let the fun and the mess begin!!

Olivia wanted to share some of her cake with her sister!

She managed to get it all over Abby too!

Sugar coma!!

Opening her presents. Abby got her a little mailbox toy and Andrew and I got her a "special blankie" Abigail also wanted to give her sister one of her dolls so she went upstairs all by herself to pick out a doll to give Olivia and wrapped up for her. Abby is so generous with her sister, I just hope that continues!!

I still can't believe my baby girl is a year old already. I really don't know where the time goes....

Grand Canyon Trip

Our trip to the Grand Canyon was incredible. I still can't believe this is the first time I have ever been, its a truly amazing place! I am so happy that my sister Ana was able to come out and share this experience with us. I have a TON of pictures so I tried to get just a few of my favorites. The pictures could not capture the beauty of this place, definitely a place you need to see for yourself!!

This is the trail we "hiked". It wasn't much of a hike because we had both kids and the huge double stroller so we had to stay on a paved path. I am hoping to be able to go back and do some more real hiking down into the Canyon some day...Andrew wants to do the Rim to Rim hike, I don't know if that is something I would do though because you camp during the hike and that might be too much for me!

This is Abby as we came around the corner and saw the Canyon for the first time. It was absolutely breathtaking. It looked fake, just like a picture.

I like this picture of Ana with Andrew and Abby in the background. Every few feet we walked we enjoyed a different view.

Taking a break on the bench

Olivia and I hung out while Andrew, Abby and Ana went into the gift shop. I felt bad for Olivia because she wanted to be out of the stroller so badly and explore but there wasn't a ton of opportunity for that, but we did it as much as possible.

Abby loved having her Aunt Ana with us!

Me and my little sister!

I thought it was cool that you could use your cell phone for an audio tour!

I love this picture because both girls are more interested in the beautiful view than smiling for the camera!!

Abby in front of the gift shop where she got her authentic dream catcher

Just enjoying the view

A different perspective. You could look down in the canyon and see people hiking and the people on the donkey tours.

All of us!!

This tree was awesome and it was a very popular spot for picture taking!