one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen

 

I want one.

a play date

I invited a few friends over to enjoy my parent’s back yard with us our first morning there.  Such cute little kiddos!  I love them all.  Here’s the line up:

AND…

namely: Mandy, Ann, me, and Stacie

It was a highly successful morning, the kids love playing together and the moms love talking to each other.  My mom was so cute, she was helping the kids in and out of swings, taking some in for potty breaks, feeding them popsicles, helping another one down the slide, finding more toys, filling the water table. 

When I am home, I don’t have to be a mom anymore, my mom does it for me. 

I just sit around and take pictures, she does the rest.  Now THAT’S what I call a vacation!!  Thanks Mom!  And thanks ladies for coming over to play.

Tessa got so wet at the water table, she really likes to splash like crazy and then giggle.  I realize the last picture is completely out of focus but I you can still tell she is really loving that water tickle. 

Sophie’s first boyfriend (she wishes)

Sophie likes Paul.  Paul turned 4 and had his birthday party last week before we left town (sorry these posts are out of order).  Sophie and I have had this conversation more than once in transit to a location where Paul will be present:

Sophie:  Mom, I want to kiss Paul on the lips, ok?

Me:  No, Sophie you can’t kiss Paul on the lips.

Sophie:  Can I kiss him on the face?

Me:  No, Sophie.  Why don’t you just see if he wants a hug?

Sophie:  (over-enthusiastically) OK!! Paul, he’s my best.  Mommy, Paul, he’s my very best friend.  I love Paul.  He’s a boy.

Paul’s such a cute kid.  But I don’t know if this is going to work out…  Sophie is so tall for her age and Paul is quite short for his.  Guess that’s not as important as the fact that the feeling doesn’t seem to be mutual.  Yes, they are friends, but Paul certainly doesn’t want to cuddle, he’d rather play.

Both of my girls got heat exhaustion at the party.  Look how sweaty Sophie’s hair is!  The picture doesn’t show how red their cheeks were, it was disturbing.  I’m afraid their inability to cool their bodies is a gift their momma gave them, so sorry dearies.  It was hard to get them to stay in the shade, they love to play at the park!

Tessa graced us with some dance moves.  She has really taking a liking to wearing skirts, I think it’s because they are more fun to dance in.  I also got to meet my friend Tracy’s newborn baby Lucy at the party, isn’t she precious?!

 

I didn’t get a picture of them together at Paul’s party.  But I found this one from Sophie’s 3rd birthday party.  Sophie thinks it’s important they sit next to each other wherever possible.

no boys allowed

Last week my BIL Matt had a training out of town and since Dan just studies for the bar all day everyday; Cami and I decided to take a girls’ trip home to see our families in Utah.  It was a win/win (win, win, WIN!! as Michael from The Office would say).  Our driving in the morning hours was easy breezy, but afternoon gets more tricky.  All in all, it was a successful drive.  My girls were so happy to finally get to Grandma Qunicy’s house, out of the car, and to play in her back yard!

It’s hard to frame a picture when you don’t know how high she’s going to jump, oh well.

Sophie went to the playhouse and called home to tell Dad we arrived safely.  I think the roof on the playhouse is green, not Sophie’s hair, as it appears in this photo.

Tessa was oober cranky, but that’s the norm for her these days.  This Dora tricycle was too cool to pass up, cranky or not!  Grandpa found it at a garage sale, no doubt.  I covet his thrift skills.

 

I took literally THOUSANDS of pictures during this trip, so brace yourself!  I will post the highlights as I have time to go through them all.  We did so many fun things and really enjoyed our visit, I think this may have been our most successful Utah trip so far!  By “successful”  I mean there was a lower number of tantrums/screaming at family fits.  I think that can be attributed to how laid back our visit was, no pressure, no pressing schedules, etc.  I’m so glad we got to go!

playground

A couple days before the girls and I left town for the week we walked over to the playground so the girls could have some time with Dan.  I brought my camera, and took lots of pictures, naturally. 

{Dan, feeling too old for the slide. “Ouch!”}  {Tessa, loving the slide.}

{The “horseys” are definitely their favorite part of our playground.  Sophie will rock it to the MAX while Tessa just vibrates hers a bit until she slowly slides off one side.}

 

{Dan, feeling (and looking) really tall.}  {Dan, scaring me.  Can’t you just picture that spring coming up out of the ground and doing something grotesque to a nearby victim?  Ewwww, gives me the willies.}

{Sophie saying, “Yeee haaa!”  She loves to be a cow girl.}  {Tessa’s stubborn face.  She is NOT going down that slide!}

{Now sliding is HER idea, therefore, it’s fun.}

our quick UT trip

Last weekend we went to Utah for my FIL’s surprise 60th birthday party.  We car pooled (you’re welcome Mr. Gore) with Matt, Cami, and baby Lily.  Uncle Matt got the girls ice cream at our first stop.  They L-O-V-E-D it… a little too much in fact.

And since both Dan and Matt had obligations the Friday we left and the following Monday we were really only there for Saturday which was a fun day!  That morning after my run I went to SIL Candice’s baby shower.  Yep, it’s another girl!  (That’s the only kind of grand-babies the Chapmans have so far.)  Candice is such a cute pregnant lady.  Her and Jason are going to be such awesome parents!  (Thanks for the pictures Cami.)

Then that evening we got to be there to surprise Tom with a birthday party open house where all of his family and friends were invited.  Before the big shin dig the sons did a “roast” of their dad where they made fun of him a bit and told lots of funny and some serious stories.  Ann (his daughter) made a stellar slide show of pictures from his childhood to present.  It was really neat, I am so glad we got to be there to honor this great man!

And the cousins (aka- princesses) were happy to hang out in the short time allotted as well.  They are starting to play together better and better.

Our trip was short but worth it!  Good news though, we are leaving for Utah again TOMORROW.  Cami and I are driving out for a girls only trip while Matt is away for work and Dan studies for the bar.  It’s going to be super fun!  Plus it will include Grandma Nina’s 2nd annual COUSINS CAMP and there are whisperings of a Lagoon trip with Grandma Quincy.  Can’t wait to get there, it’s the 9 hours getting there that’s the hard part. :) 

I can go the distance!

I ran 16 miles yesterday morning so now I know I can go the distance for my half marathon (13.1 miles) coming up.  I am pretty proud, never ran that far before!  I feel such a sense of accomplishment.  I have a big blister on my foot and a few aches this morning but it felt good.  The first 13 miles took me 1 hour 54 min.  My primary goal at the race next month is under 2 hours my secondary goal is 1 hour 50 min or less.  Seems reasonable I think, since I did it yesterday in nearly that with 3 miles tacked on the end, but I’ll try not to get my hopes up.  I’ve come to realize that I am a terrible racer.  I often have training runs faster than my races.  I was always a bad tester in school, I guess this is similar. 

I think it’s amazing what our bodies can do!  And to think, all you marathoners have gone a full 10 miles further than I did!! I took a couple pictures in the bathroom mirror after I got back because I found it humorous how very sweaty my shirt was, on second thought, that’s gross, I’ll just keep them to myself.  What’s the furthest you’ve run (or walked, biked etc.)?  Don’t be shy, be proud, I’m curious.

this could make you sick…

There is so much love in our house, it could make you sick.

Dan’s studying for the bar = NOT EVER HOME

Last night he came home a little earlier and I kept the girls up a bit later so they could see each other.  You can tell Dan was really happy to see them but also notice he’s got his eye on the computer screen watching the NBA finals simultaneously.  Being a father of 2 in law school has made him quite the multi-tasker.

The girls wanted to get dressed up for their daddy.  What to wear?  Decisions, decisions…

I am so jealous of Tessa’s abs.

Music break… (Tessa is laughing at Sophie in the 2nd picture)

“Wait Mom!  I need to wear a dress!!!” --------------- Ahhhhh, so in love with her dad.

Speaking of love, check these two out!  If Tessa ever gets in trouble Sophie is always there to defend her.  “Mommy, don’t yell at my Tessa.”  “Mommy, Tessa doesn’t like that.”  Funny thing is, Sophie really enjoys yelling at and disciplining her sister. 

 Are you sick?  Sorry, I can’t help it, they’re just so darn sweet!

camera love

Been taking pictures of our daily events today, it’s so fun having a nice camera again!

Sophie is SO in love with this little booklet that came in her Snow White movie, it has all sorts of Disney Princess paraphernalia for her to oogle and memorize.  She really wants the princess clock and Snow White vacuum.  It goes with her EVERYWHERE!

Tessa had refried beans for lunch today. I know she likes the idea of utensils, because she always asks for them.  But the texture of food is too tempting not to experience with those chubby fingers!  I catch her just massaging her food all the time and have to remind her to eat.

This new basketball game was the source of a couple hours entertainment.  Tessa chuckles like a fat man while Sophie bounces up and down.  My heart fizzes and pops when I see those 2 enjoying each others’ company, it’s the greatest!

Note (this is for you Erika): I used my 50mm lens for all of these pictures in Av mode and I’m pretty sure my f stop was 1.8 the whole time.   My shutter speed was pretty slow around 1/60- 1/120.  I am proud to say that my ISO was pretty darn high for these photos, the lowest I had it was 400 and for the basketball pictures it was at 3200!  The reason I am proud of this is because they are surprisingly not noisy (quiet?) for that high of an ISO, something my old camera was TERRIBLE at!  The WB was on auto but I had to correct it to tungsten for the bathroom pictures.

**WARNING** the following paragraph will only be interesting if you are a photographer, the rest of you may just want to stop here (and leave a comment).

So my new camera is considered a “semi-professional” camera which means it’s bigger and heavier (and much more expensive) than the Rebel series.  Luckily my old camera was a dinosaur and not much different in size and weight that the new guy (yes, I think it’s a boy).  It’s bigger and heavier for a reason though, it’s got a lot more POWER!  My first favorite is how stinking fast it can shoot.  It’s seriously astounding to casually press the shutter button and have it snap 6 pictures just like that.  I think the technical spec says it does 6.5 fps (frames per second).  Isn’t that totally awesome!  Other “semi-pro” upgrades include:

• longevity – it’s graded to take 100,000 shots while the Rebels aka “prosumer cameras” are graded to 10,000 before repairs are needed
• toughness – he’s made of metal instead of plastic plus the compartments for the battery and memory card are dust and water proof
• sharper – all 9 of the focus points cross type where as in the prosumer line only the middle point has that precision
• faster – as I mentioned above it shoots significantly faster and for longer bursts (up to 75 jpegs in one burst) as well as a higher max shutter speed
• control – there are more things you have control over in this camera like kelvin values for your white balance, for example, personally I am excited to just have flash exposure compensation!  Can you believe my old one didn’t even have THAT!?
• ISO range – it can go up higher in the ISO making low light photography possible and with less digital noise

I’m sure there are more differences I am not aware of; the the longevity was the selling point for me!  It lasts 10 times as long!!  I just take so many pictures.  So yeah, clearly I am in love with my new camera!  I hope the influx of pictures doesn’t crash my blog, or worse, my computer…