Released from the call

Today I was released from the Primary Presidency. It was bitter sweet. I knew I was getting released when John came by on Friday and brought the news. I told him he could leave (kidding) once he told me. I don't know if I will miss serving with the great sisters more or the kids. They released the whole presidency, and I think we all were a little shocked at the news.

I was joking with Lavon that I don't know if I can sit still for 2 hours straight. I also wondered if we can do singing time, in opera or while stomping in place and not to mention the coloring we got to do!!

I haven't been in Relief Society for about 5 years now, so imagine the huge culture shock there. Yes there will still be crying (RS), and yes some bathroom breaks, but as for the rest of it, I don't know.

On the bright side, I was meeting to start the primary program this week, so now that is on someone else, as is the upcoming temple trip, and the constant need for substitute teachers.

Oh well, I am sure what ever comes next will be another challenge that I can "grow" from.

Princess Party

Abby had a princess party today, just so she could get some of her friends together for a play date. As we were getting some items for her party a couple of days ago, she told me she wanted presents at her party. I reminded her that this was not a birthday party, but a party to have friends over. She didn't seem so hit on the party without presents theme.

Both girls put on their princess attire. As a side note, both of these fit Abby and Tori doesn't look small in them at all. Tori is sure growing up fast. Tori loved her outfit so much, she twirled and danced. She didn't take it off all day.
When they got dressed Dad did get a little teary as she watched his cute girls look so pretty (boy wait until prom)!!

Here they are all dressed and ready to go, they both even let me pull their hair back, which in of itself was a special occasion.
Tori got to take a ride in the baby stroller, given by her sister. Abby tried to do the same, but it ripped, guess that 30 pounds is just too much for even this well made baby stroller.
The girls all had fun at the party, we had little sandwiches in the shapes of butterflies and leafs with some drink and chips. We decorated cupcakes and they even took some home to their family's. One of the last things they did was play in the basement. They wanted to watch some Dora, and set up their stadium seating to take in the show.
Tori and Maren didn't make the cut, so they had to watch from the sidelines.
It was a really fun time, sorry I didn't get more pictures, I forgot to pull the camera out, something I need to get better at.
After all the kids left we headed to see Great-Grandma. On the way the girls found great joy in covering their ears and screaming. You see the screaming is much louder if you cover you ears as you scream.
Great-Grandma really wanted KFC (by far not my favorite) but I did let her choose so we decided that we would pick some up when we got close to her house. What I didn't know was although it was really only 2 minutes from her, it would take us 30 minutes to find it. Everyone was grumpy and hungry by the time we got there, but soon forgot this and enjoyed our time there.

The girls were really good and didn't get into too much. We need to go visit her more often, it is good for all of us and I am sure she enjoys our company as much as we enjoy her. Next time, I will make sure to take a picture or two.

Too quite too long

Any parent knows that when young children are quite for too long there is bound to be trouble. Tonight we were enjoying the quiet when we realized that we had children and that quiet usually meant there was trouble.
Chris went up to check the girls out and see what they had gotten into. What he found was Abby reading a book to Tori. Given that this is not usually not what we find, we thought we should capture this moment.

The offering stone

This morning Abby graced us with her presence at 5AM when Chris and I got up and had no interest in going back to bed. I took the dog for a walk and then came back to get ready for work and get the girls ready for daycare.
When Abby hasn't slept much, she tends to be a bit on the grumpy side. She asked for a specific breakfast of yogurt and cereal, which I was happy to get for her and then run up to shower and change. When I came back to see how she was doing she asked for more cereal.

Now if you have ever seen a bugs life you are familiar with the scene when the ants sit below the hill and wait for the grasshoppers to come and get their food from the offering stone. When the grasshoppers come and there isn't enough food, they don't respond well.


















When I was getting Abby more food, I knew that she would eat a bit or two and then the rest would get tossed, so I didn't want to give her too much as that was just silly. However, I had to give her enough so that she wouldn't freak out (again given the sleep deprived little girl) and start to cry or get mad at me.
So as I approached her at her little table eating, I felt much like the ants, which wait with worry, will it be enough, and will they eat and leave us alone. As I placed the bowl in front of her and slowly backed away saying a little prayer that it would be enough to satisfy her and not begin a scene. I was glad when she seemed content with what I had given her and continued to eat and sing. One more ugly incident avoided.

Socks anyone

We went to Grandma's today to play with all the family. Tyler and Brianna came into town so it was a perfect excuse to get together. All the kids put on their bathing suits and played in the water. Tori went up to Theresa and asked her to put socks on, which she did. Quite the fashion statement, she just needed the Birkenstock to complete the look.

Pizza Stealer

Tonight we had pizza for Dinner, the kids were all done and we were clearing off the table. Tori decided that she wasn't done just yet. When we turned around, she helped herself up to Dad's seat and took the last piece of Pizza and ate all the toppings off and then set it back down. It was just to cute to pass up.

The many faces of Abby

Abby recently has started to provide us entertainment upon demand. Her newest feature is the many faces of Abby. Without further ado, here are the all time favorites:
Her Happy Face:

Her mad face:

Her scary face:

Her surprised face:

With this kind of entertainment, you don't even need TV.

Job update

I can't believe that I am still at my old company, I had expected to be gone last November, but here it is June and I am still going strong. I was asked today if I would be interested in working on our conversion project, which I thought would be great experience, so I said yes. Well I found out late in the day that I was chosen to assist with this project, yea!! So now it looks like it will be the end of September before I need to look for a new job.

My little lady

To get ready for Church today I gave both girls a bath and even talked Abby into wearing curlers so her hair would have some body to it. I came down stairs to find her like this. I couldn't resist the urge to capture the moment, she looked like such the little lady!

4th of July

I really wanted to take the dog on a hike, so we packed up the kids, the dog and our gear and headed out for a 4th of July hike at Castle wood Cannon. We all had fun and made better time then last time we went out. About 10 minutes in Tori said, all done Mommy, however she had to stay on my back for about another 1 1/2 hours. She wasn't too happy, but when we put here down she would just wonder around and yell when we told her to go with us.
Cassey did great and we even let her go in the water and swim a bit (more like soak her under body and take a drink. I really didn't want her to get in and wet and stinky, but when I saw all the other dogs, I felt sorry for her and caved under peer pressure of strangers.
When we got home, we ate and stuck the kids and dog in the bath (separately) and got all cleaned up and cleaned the house before the family got there.

We had a great 4th of July/birthday party for lots of our family. We had it at our house which was nice, because it was so hot out that we all stayed in until it started to cool down about 6. Judd, Rachel and Grant made a pinata for Grant's birthday and used the tree to set up.Grant got first crack since he was the birthday boy.


Tori took a couple of swings at it. She didn't do much damage though.

Last of the kids was Jakob, since he was more likely to do some damage.
Here are all the kids lined up ready to go grab their loot when the next person takes a stab at it...

Yet Tori, took one of the lightsabers to it, may the force be with her.
The girls got some good loot once it was broken.
Then we did birthday presents for Elise and Jeff...Judd, Grant and Reta...

and Chris (sorry no pictures of him).

I had to add this one to the blog, this is Aubree, look how big she is, if you notice Elisa a couple of pictures back, they are due at the same time. Poor thing she looks ready to have that baby today and still 3 months to go!

Then we went in for cake and homemade ice cream (strawberry, thanks Mom)!!
We couldn't do fireworks at our house so we did battle with the lightsabers. Since Jeff sells them, through his lifesabers company he was able to bring lots for the battles in the backyard. They were really cool and looked good in the dark and the sounds were just like you hear in the movie.

Thanks Jeff!!
Abby tried to take out Grandma, but wasn't successful.

All in all it was a lot of fun. Tori and Abby didn't get to bed until after 10, not bad for Abby, but Tori usually goes to bed at 7ish, so that was really late. Guess we will all be sleeping in tomorrow.

Not a good mother day

I took today off as our day care was out of town for the week. They spent the last couple of days with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Theresa which the loved!!
They were super tied when they came home last night and so today was not a good day for any of us. I thought it would be fun to take both girls to the free movie at the theater with great expectations. That both would sit through the movie and enjoy it. Well that sure isn't what happened at all!!
We made it there, the girls seemed ready to go and we got a good seat. Tori however had other plans. She made it through only 15 minutes before decided to start screaming. I took her out and told Abby to stay and that I would be right back, which of course she ignored and followed me out. I thought I had Tori calmed down and went back in at which time she started to scream again. I grabbed by bag and left at that point, it was useless to stand there and hope it got better.
Abby was so upset when we left and had this so sad look on her face. She said why are we leaving Mom and it broke my heart? So I told her we would stop and get the movie on the way home and that I would take her to a movie all by herself. After which we headed right home and I put Tori down for a nap that she desperately needed.
Abby and I watched the movie until she decided that it would be a good idea to go wake Tori up, to which I didn't react well. So by this time I had Abby in time out in her room, trying to put Tori back down and it wasn't even noon yet.
I gave up at that point and went to down and made us all lunch. Then off to the dentist to which Abby did great!! She got her teeth cleaned and even got a new toothbrush and a toy from the toy box.
The afternoon didn't get much better and I was ever so glad to see Dad come home.
Abby fell asleep before 6PM and never got back up and Tori follwed at 7:30PM. I am glad that we don't have many days like this, because I really do like spending time with the girls and hate when we fight a lot!

Some fun pictures of the week

I thought I would share some fun things from this week.
The girls love hanging out in the backyard, especially since it has been so nice lately. So often when I get home from work, this is where I find them. They love the chips in the can and sometimes I even buy them for them. Cute, cute girls!!

They think that Cassey home is a fun place to play, here Abby is even enjoying her bone!
Abby giving you a surprised face!
Tori trying to do a surprised face!