Our Family

10 yr anniversary

2010-11-10T22:16:00.000-08:00

This was so much stinking fun! We celebrated our 10 year anniversary in Hawaii this year. It was in September and we couldnt have done it

without the amazing help of parents! Thank you to Andy for sacrificing mom for a week and helping us book the flight! The kids got to stay with my mom (Nana), then Grampa Don. I just learned today that my poor dad thought that Lola was potty trained when he accepted the babysitting assignment. He told me he got her to use the toilet once or twice, then realized that we had a lot of diapers, and that maybe she wasn't potty trained after all! I was a bit jealous because today I have been working on potty training and have had very little success. Why do I do this every time? I KNOW BETTER THAN TO START BEFORE THE EVE OF THEIR 3RD BIRTHDAY!!!! yet Every time I have to try early. We fail, there are accidents, it's frusterating for all of us, and then we pack up those little panties and try again. Anyway, back to Ben and I...We had a fabulous time. I love that guy so stinking much! Every day there is just more to appreciate and adore. He's the best Daddy ever, and I couldn't of dreamed up a better husband. He is cooking up some birthday surprise for me this weekend...I am so curious! It keeps getting more and more mysterious. Hmmmm....now what to wear? Brookie is turning 5 next week! I can't believe how big they are all getting. She's had asthma problems the last few days, it always happens after she holds puppies. I think we have all learned our lesson! Poor kid. She is taking dance now and it is so fun to watch her. She looooves to shake her little hips when the dance calls for it. Its like that's the move she's waiting for the whole time:) Emmaline finishes another season of soccer this Saturday, and is now beginning ballet. I was a little disappointed because I signed her up for ballet, but when I got there, they were calling it lyrical. What the heck is that? Poor Emmaline fell victim to her ADD mother again. This morning we are on time for school but on the 'we are in a hurry' side of on time, and I decided that she absolutely needed a haircut. So we trimmed off 4 inches, and still got her there in time for announcements. Why am I so last minute with the weirdest things? Is it pregnancy or am I always like this? Like right now it is 15 minutes till midnight, and I decided I haaaad to post right now. Weird.

updates

2010-10-17T08:45:00.000-07:00

Howdy y'all! We have been in Texas for over a year now and no one has actually said that to me-I am somewhat disappointed. Y'all is dropped like "and" and "the" but sorry, "howdy" is only actually used by other states referring to Texas.

I am the new ward activities chair person in our ward. We had our first party last night-the Fall Festival. It was so much fun! I am so relieved to have it as a good memory rather than something to look forward to, if you catch my drift.

We are expecting another baby! We don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet, and I am due May 8th. I forgot how sleepy and nauseated i felt the other times. This pregnancy stuff is hard work!

Ben is loving dentistry. We bought the practice a few months ago and it keeps us SUPER busy. He doesnt mean to work on Fridays, but usually ends up down there taking care of an emergency or someone that couldn't fit onto the schedule.

Emmaline is playing soccer again and getting pretty good! Yesterday she had 2 games, and I wish you all could come see her play. Ben and I are coaching her team.

Brooklyn has started preschool 5 days a week! I was never a big believer in preschool outside the home, but Brookie will be an older kindergartener the way her birthday falls, and was in tears when we dropped Emmaline off at school. She would cry, "Where's my classroom?" So we enrolled her in a little school that is 3 hours a day (kindergarten will be all day next year) and we pull her out 1 day a week for home-school preschool with our friends. She has a knack for learning new words. A month ago, in front of my friend, she said, "Mom, I freaking hate this stupid sand" so I pulled her aside and explained how pretty princess girls just don't use those words. Then clear as a bell she replied, "ok d@mmit". We are giong to have our hands full with that one!

Lola is 2 1/2 now. She is very determined, and loves to introduce me to strangers. She says "what name?" then they reply and she says "I'm Lola. Dis Mom." All over wal*mart. And in Texas you pretty much have to NEVER be in a hurry, because the public loves to chat. And in a small town, someone knows you, or are a patient of Bens, or our kids go to school together, so there is even more to chat about.

2009-07-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

Here is poor Brooklyn after a cashew. We took her to the hospital in Sherman, and after a lot of epinepherine, steroids and benadryl she fell asleep and we got to take her home. It is scary having somethin

g so common basically be poisonous to our baby! Everything else is going pretty well, we like the ward, we are meeting great friends, and it is hot as a sauna! Last night I was walking with my friend Misty and we saw an armadillo run across our path! It was the weirdest little animal. We are on our way to the library today and for the life of me I cant find like 3 books. Why? it kills me.

And the winner is...TEXAS!

2009-03-19T08:31:00.000-07:00

Ellie & Lola (my dear pal Gina's daughter)
me and Amy:) date night with our hubbies at pf changs

our big girl!

Santa Anita race track! Too bad we didn't bet because I asked Emmaline and Brooklyn and Ben who their favorite horses were, and they picked the first, second, and third place! (my horse came in 12th)

Ben and Lola at in-n-out!

We were almost sure it was Washington.... Ben went out to TX last month and fell in love with the area, and a practice, and met some wonderful friends, and after praying about it we feel like it's where we're going! It will be so hard to be far away from family and our dear frineds here. Luckily we'll be just North of Dallas, about an hour from the airport so we can visit often. Plus house prices there are AWESOME so we'll get one with room for visitors.

Speaking of visitors, we had a great time seeing my cousin Shane and his sweet little family! They came to Disneyland and we got to go out to dinner with them. My kids asked about their cousins for days!

Ben has completed all of his requirements and has the dancing congratulations sign on his USC page to prove it. Has anyone seen that? funny! Anyway, Emmaline lost her first tooth! And then her second. Grandma and Grandpa Duffin came out to visit and we had such a nice time. Emmaline wanted Grandpa to pull out her tooth, I highly recommended him as being able to pull out teeth practically painlessly. Ben applied topical anesthetic (I know, we are totally spoiling her) and Dr. Duffin pulled it! So funny because (and I am sure all of my Duffin cousins will back me up) usually Grandpa is so eager to pull baby teeth that you really didn't want to let him wiggle yours, it ALWAYS ended up in his hand. But this time Emmaline had to beg him! I think some grandkids after me must have put up quite a fuss (I think it was Anna) and he didn't want to be the bad-guy.

And ahhh...there's Brooklyn. This spunky little girl keeps me hopping constantly! She is so funny, I just wish I could push pause and enjoy the humor in the bottle of shampoo being dumped into the tub, or the 1.5 hours it takes to feed her a meal...she wants to run around after each bite. We are truly raising a princess! Lately she runs up and kisses my hand, then asks "Mommy, did you feel my love tingle all the way up your arm?" I love it!

Lola is getting very mobile. She is pulling herself up onto things and peoples legs. She is as smiley as ever and now likes to hiss with a big grin on her face. this kid likes to smile so much that you can even get her to do it while she's crying.

I have been having fun with highlights. With my dear friend Gina as my tutor and guinnea-pig, I am really having fun playing beauty-shop! I did my moms hair yesterday, and it's pretty fun:) I just got released from my church calling as the enrichment leader. I had a lot of fun doing that and getting to know the women in the ward better. It's weird to not have a calling, but SO NICE to be able to concentrate on all the things we need to do to get ready for the move. We are flying out to TX next month to look for a place to live, and check out the schools, and finalize the details on where he will be working!

The problem with blogging...

2009-02-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

Is that when you get behind, it feels impossible to catch up. And then, oh, what to write. Ben is almost DONE!!!! Can you believe it? I am so proud of him, and proving all of my confidence by sitting in his chair this Friday. I grew the perfect cavities for him to fill for 1) an upcoming test, and 2) to be his boards patient. Both of his Boards patients really. It was a difficult task but with the help several pregnancies and avoiding dental floss, I was able to do it. This really is a big deal because if you can't find this, you actually have to buy your patients, sometimes it is several thousand dollars. I won't bore you by posting my x-rays, but really, they are beautiful. I did however post a picture of my guy with a few of our girls and their cousins at the much anticipated wedding of Michael and Jenae! It was perfect, She looked amazing, and I would be hard pressed to find a more happy couple. Congratulations Mike and Jenae!

2008-11-01T22:13:00.001-07:00

halloween 08

2008-11-01T22:09:00.001-07:00

2008-11-01T21:26:00.000-07:00

Halloween was a blast this year! Nana, Papa and Madelyn joined us for trick-or-treating, and then watched our kids while we went to a party dressed like this...

We are Captain Hook and Mr. Smee, courtesy of my mom the costume designer! I forgot how much fun it is to show up in one of her costumes! It was always one of my favorite holidays growing up because of her artistic enthusiasm. My poor kids always end up store-bought. They are still pretty cute though...if I do say so!

Emmaline is enjoying kindergarten and spelling everything in sight! I am now having to tell secrets in the super secret language of double-dutch instead of the spelling method. I broke the Duffin woman law and taught it to my husband so that we could communicate in front of our kids/friends in front of our kids/friends. Ben insists that I am not as sneaky as I think, but if you have never heard it I think I could confound the cleverest of linguists. Try me. Anyhoo, I am so excited for the elections this week! My parents watched the kids for us this morning so Ben and I could deliver fliers to protect traditional marriage. I have never been so passionate about an election before, it is exciting, but I am also looking forward to my blood pressure slowing down on November 5th.

2008-08-14T21:18:00.000-07:00

it's been forever since I have posted, but life is so crazy now! How am I supposed to keep my house clean and read the latest Stephenie Meyer novel, watch the Olympics, and entertain fun sibling visitors? Anyway, that's why I'm slow to post. The girls are getting big, Emmaline is into the Taylor Swift song "our Song" and sings it at the top of her lungs. I love how she sings about the "slammin green door" instead of the slamming screen door. She takes after me. I love to sing along to whatever the ipod plays, and I only know about 30% of the lyrics of any of my favorite songs. Doesn't stop me! Brooklyn is obsessed with trolls right now. Apparently they eat poop. It's great because if she ever gets hurt, we ask her if a troll did it, and she says yes and comes up with a wild story about her injury. I love her imagination. This morning she woke me up by running into our room naked, holding up the pull-up that was completely soaked up to her ear saying "look at my phone mom. HELLO??? HELLO???" Sick. Lola is a happy little girl, we are enjoying her so much. She loves to smile, and the girls love to entertain her. She is our biggest so far at 4 months weighing in at a whopping 18.1 lbs. Ben just finished up another semester!!!!! This means he is officially a senior, and will be graduating in May of 2009. I am so proud of him! He has worked so hard, and I am so relieved that he is doing so well in school...after all, he will be my dentist for the rest of my life:)

Thanks Gramma Lynda!

2008-07-17T23:06:00.001-07:00

We were on our way out the door the other day, and of course I am running late after looking for a headband for Lola. We open our front door and lo and behold there is a package with matching headbands from Gramma! We love them! And as you can see, the girls look adorable (oh I do hate to brag...) We went to the Arboretum in Arcadia and had a great time. Lola is laughing now, last weekend Papa (my step-dad) was holding her and making her laugh, and he asked if she was always that happy. We couldn't believe it! We hadn't been able to get her to laugh yet! We grabbed our camera and ran to capture the moment, and my little brother J.R. piped up and said,"I didn't know that was a big deal. She was laughing like crazy last week." So funny...especially if you've met JR. That kid is hilarious!

Why Ben can't be trusted...

2008-07-11T15:34:00.002-07:00

Sooo... the baby is 2 1/2 months old, and after 8 years I decide to try wakeboarding again. I LOVE wakeboarding, and every time an opportunity has come up, I have been pregnant. So I asked my husband to take a picture of me wake boarding, and I get this. He did take some others, but I really didn't do anything fancy, I was too chicken to jump, so I thought this would probably make my readers the happiest. Sorry for the looooong span of nothingness, but HOLY COW can 3 kids keep a girl busy! We've had so much fun with them, and time is flying. We had the girls in swimming lessons the last 2 weeks. Brooklyn was in a parent/child class with me, and Emmaline was in a big girl class. I could hear her teacher asking her to pay attention over and over and over again. Good luck to the kindergarten teacher next year! She must take after Ben, he says that when he was a lad playing soccer meant just running after the ball and kicking it so hard that you fall every time. That's Emmaline. Who cares about form, she is just making huge fast splashes with a HUGE grin. Brooklyn is now jumping off of the side without checking to see if anyone is going to rescue her, so I taught her to dog padle to the wall and hand-over-hand make it to the steps to get out. Still not completely fool proof, but it maybe could save her life under the right circumstances. I am still keeping an eagle eye on her just in case. She is hard to keep alive. Over the 4th of July weekend, my mom saw her put what looked like a chocolate covered nut into her mouth and start chewing. My poor mom was sticking her finger into Brooklyn's mouth swiping the food out screaming "spit it all out!!!" (Brooklyn is VERY allergic to tree nuts and it always means a stab with the epi-pen and a trip to the emergency room). Brooklyn at the same time is trying to scream "it's no nuts Nana!" and sure enough, the 2 year old was right. Just chocolate covered graham cracker something. Oh well, your efforts were appreciated Mom! Anyway, back to swimming lessons. I think the most memorable thing about swimming lessons 2008 was hearing Emmaline's description of her teachers bathing suit at the dinner table. She said, "Well, it is like a tu-tu, but there is no top....and at the bottom it is black, and shiny, and smooth...except for, well, (makes a fist) there is like a knot (fist goes down to crotch) right here." you guessed it folks...he was wearing a speedo.

Michael is CANCER FREE!!!! he finished up the last radiation treatment 2 weeks ago. Thank you to all friends and family for your prayers and support! We are celebrating this weekend at his fiance's parents house. He looks great, feels better, and we are so relieved.

2008-07-11T15:34:00.001-07:00

2008-05-08T00:07:00.001-07:00

Okay, so here is our little Lola at 22 days old, on her actual due date. I am so glad that she came when she did! This little baby has been so great, she sleeps literally 23/24 hours a day. Still, I cannot believe how crazy our lives have been! It is a full time job keeping her alive when we have such loving older sisters mauling her. Brooklyn picked her up the other day, and got quite a talking to. It's crazy how much longer it takes to get ready for the day, or clean the house, or really to do anything. I am so thankful for all of you my sweet friends who have shown mercy on us and brought us dinners! We appreciated it so much, and I am excited to get back to normal so I can help out other adjusting moms. Ben is doing great in school, I am so proud of him! He finished a root canal today in one appointment, and is so excited about every new thing he learns. We are heading up to Ben's parents for Mothers day weekend, so we are excited to take our first family road trip as a party of 5. Emmaline shared with the entire primary on Sunday that she is now wearing panties to bed, so I guess I am not violating her privacy by posting it on the blog. We are so happy! Bedwetting is such a bummer, she is so proud of herself, and we are proud of her too. Brooklyn is as spunky as ever, today when she ran down the apartment hallway and just lay down by the elevator, and wouldn't come back, she got in trouble. I asked her why she didn't listen to mommy, and her reply was, "I am sleeping beauty, and I was asleep!" Always has an answer to everything. Lola is very sweet, and is still hanging on to her umbilical stump at 25 days old. Sheesh! I think we'll just go for the Guiness book of world records. Anyone know the longest?

Cute girls

2008-04-26T22:21:00.001-07:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Desi Burbank <desburbank@gmail.com>
Date: Apr 26, 2008 10:06 PM
Subject: Fwd: a few pictures with the Hills
To: Dori Hill <dorimariehill@gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jarom R Burbank <jarom.burbank@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Apr 26, 2008 at 9:21 PM
Subject: a few pictures with the Hills
To: Desi Burbank <desburbank@gmail.com>, benjamth@usc.edu

Lola Madison Hill

2008-04-13T23:09:00.001-07:00

Lola Madison Hill

2008-04-13T22:06:00.000-07:00

Our little Lola was born on Saturday, April 12th at 11:55 am. She was 8 Lbs 1 oz and 20" long. She was 3 weeks early! We named her after my Grandma. The labor was crazy, but we are happy and home now and so far is a happy baby. More pictures to come.

Bowling

2008-03-29T21:08:00.000-07:00

Last week USC sponsered a family bowling night. We had a great time, the girls had never bowled before and they loved it. Emmaline loved her "clown shoes". We had bumpers, and I have never seen a bowling ball roll down a lane so slowly. Ben started kicking the 6lb ball after the girls dropped it, which helped things along. We are getting excited to meet our latest daughter. I am 35 weeks pregnant right now, Emmaline was born at 36 weeks, and Brooklyn at 37, so I am on the home stretch. I am going to shoot for April 20th (which is 38) anything more than that would be over-achieving and stretch mark inducing. Plus, Emma and Brooklyn were both pretty good sized babies for being early, and Ben was 10.5 pounds. I am scared to DEATH of going full term! Anyway, exciting times ahead.

Funny girls!

2008-03-19T23:51:00.000-07:00

Emmaline and Brooklyn are SO FUNNY!!!
On Sunday Emmaline and I were at a baptism for a woman who has just joined our ward. While she was getting dressed, they showed a church video with President Hinckley speaking. I whispered into Emmaline's ear,"This is President Hinckley. He was the prophet, but now President Monson is the Prophet because President Hinckley died." to which Emmaline quickly replied "Who killed him?" for those of you who don't know, President Hinckley was 97 years old.
Then there's Brooklyn. Last Sunday we watched the Nativity story as a family. She has a raggedy old baby doll whom she affectionately has named "Baby Jesus". We are trying to recommend other names for her dolly, as it seems a bit blasphemous, but she just won't have it. She yells to strangers walking by with dogs on leashes, "Be Cehfull, baby Deezus is allehgic to dogs!". Incidentally he is also allergic to nuts and coconuts, all the same allergens that Brooklyn herself avoids. Sometimes she does call the baby "Baby Alexa". Congratulations Alexa! You are a bald, naked, pen-vandalized faced baby, but carried EVERYWHERE and very loved. The Easter Bunny is bringing a new doll we are hoping to swap out.

Disneyland

2008-03-13T08:37:00.000-07:00

This is me, Megan, and all the kids at Disneyland. Brooklyn talks about Disneyland every day, reminding me how Pluto likes to lick her because she is tasty, and Snow White hugs her, and is so beautiful. She has a love/hate relationship with the Matterhorn. She can't stop talking about it, but it terrifies her. Emmaline abhorres the Nemo ride. She is not fond of the whale eating the submarine bit, yet has no problem with the storybook ride. hmmm... Megan's husband is graduating dental school in May, and I am having panick attacks thinking about them moving. I am so excited for them to be able to settle somewhere, but dang it I will miss them! Ben and I have moved 5 times in our 7 years of marriage, and it KILLS me making such great friends and then having to rely on visits and phone calls to stay close to people I love. Thank goodness for cell phones eh?

YAY!!!!

2008-03-10T21:30:00.001-07:00

Mike and Jenae are officially engaged now, her ring is gorgeous, and we are all thrilled! Also, Michaels dr appt went really well, they said that the growth on his neck/shoulder area that was the size of an orange is now the size of 1 1/2 skittles. His immune system is doing really well, and that is also a big improvement. Congrats Mikey!

Tough Guy

2008-03-09T23:19:00.000-07:00

Here's a pic of Mike and Jenae playing barber shop. He looks pretty tough eh? Tomorrow is another doctors appointment, for now the chemo is doing what it is supposed to do, and he is feeling better sometimes than others.

2008-03-04T21:18:00.000-08:00

This is me and my buddy Gina at her shower. We had so much fun, and I am so excited for her to have a girl! Our hubbies are in the same year at school, and I love her to pieces!

Charlie bit my finger - again !

2008-02-13T11:53:00.001-08:00

We LOVE!!!

These are a few of my favorite things...

2008-02-13T11:39:00.000-08:00

Why am I walking around like I have some great secret? It's my sexy new valentines lingerie! The Prenatal Cradle. It gives great support, it does what it promises. Now if I could only get the blue thing she's wearing underneath...now that's hot!

Update on Mikey-poo

2008-02-06T19:05:00.000-08:00

This is my brother Michael and my sister Christen's daughter Chloe.

Michael just had another round of chemo on Monday (Feb 4). He had lost 8 pounds since last time, so his doctor had to recalculate his chemo. She wants him to eat more, but that's tough when he isn't feeling well. He is taking anti-nausea medication a little better now, it makes him very drowsy, but allows him to sleep off the nausea. This time the nurse had a difficult time finding a vein when drawing blood and administering the chemo, so he is going next week to a surgery consult for a "port" which will be something they surgically place in his body so that they can easily draw blood and give chemo. (PLEASE if you can explain this or any other medical procedure I am totally butchering, go for it in the comments. This is the explaination I got from my mom, and I don't know how well I am relaying it!) This time when they checked his white blood cell count, the numbers were acceptable, so he doesn't have to receive more platelets (which is great because last time he had to do that, it gave him miserable flu-like symptoms.) Again, thank you to all for your love, support and prayers, and I will keep this up as any changes occur!

First we abhor, then we endure,tolerate and lastly we embrace

2008-01-26T21:03:00.000-08:00

Brooklyn has been really sick this week and finally getting better. In our very strong efforts to keep the plague from spreading to the 10 other children in this building that we see on a regular basis, not to mention our friends outside the dental dorms, we watched a whole lot of TV. Normally I would just play with the girls inside, but this illness was a doozie and Brooklyn just wanted to be held the entire time. Usually when switching channels, we quickly glaze over Sponge-Bob so that my kids don't take a liking to the rude little guy, but somehow Brooklyn must of been exposed to him and that's all she wanted to watch. So, I explained to Emmaline and Brookie that we have to make good choices when we watch tv, and if we are watching something and it becomes naughty, we have to turn it off. The episodes were mild, and to my dismay they were pretty funny. Now I am afraid we are hooked. It reminds me of the time my grandpa put a nickel in the slot machine on a road trip through Vegas to show his kids the waste of money and the evils of gambling, then won fifty bucks. Oh well.

Happy 30th Ben!!!

2008-01-23T17:19:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Ben!!! We love you very much, and are so proud of you for being the kindest, sweetest Daddy and husband for your family! We love you so much!!!

Michael Update

2008-01-22T19:42:00.000-08:00

Thank you everyone for asking about my brother! He was here yesterday for a Chemo appointment. He went in, and his white blood cell count was a bit low, so he was given a smaller dose of Chemo with a follow up appointment for an injection to boost his white blood cells. He seemed so healthy yesterday before the appointment, but after infusion he was really knocked out. Its scary to see him so pale, weak, and tired but he has a great attitude. He hasn't lost any weight yet, and is trying to keep drinking a lot of water and eating. His doctor said he would either have 4 cycles of chemotherapy then radiation, or 6 cycles of chemo and hopefully no radiation. So we have 2 cycles down! Wahoo!

I'm Baaaaaack!

2008-01-17T08:11:00.000-08:00

Whew! What a busy couple of months! We found out we are having a girl, which is wonderful and exciting news for us! (We really love the kids we have so far, and they are all girls, so the system seems to work). She looks healthy so far, and is kicking like crazy. She is without a name for now, so please post your ideas for girl names for us. I can't believe Christmas has come and gone. Thank you for all of you who sent us Christmas cards. I swear one of these years I will send them out. December was just a crazy time for us this year (but hey, when isn't it?) My 24 year old brother Michael (who was attending BYU) came home this semester because he was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. Cancer is ALWAYS scary, especially when it is someone you love so much, but thankfully this one has a great prognosis. He is being treated at the City of Hope right now, which is about 15 minutes away from our apartment. He is living in Hemet but we get to see him a lot more now when he goes to the doctor. The Hodgkins is a stage 2, he has a 10 cm mass in his chest. He started Chemo a week and a half ago, and Monday's blood draw shows that it is working (yay!) He has been pretty tired, and nauseated, but he is upbeat, and has a WONDERFUL supportive girlfriend/fiance named Jenae whom we all adore. She moved back to California as well to be with him, and her parents live only 30 min or so from Hemet, so that is great. We appreciate everyone's prayers and support so far.

Happy Halloween!

2007-11-01T23:03:00.000-07:00

No, Emmaline is not Jon Benet Ramsey, she's Princess Aurora, or Sleeping Beauty. Brooklyn is a Lion, but on the way out the door she peeled the Lion costume off and DEMANDED to be Ariel (the little Mermaid for those of you who don't speak princess). We went trick-or-treating on a nearby street, and there was this house with a huge front yard that had a person laying in a casket like bed with a skeleton mask on and her bare arm flopped out to the side. It didn't look like she was breathing, so of course, like I do with all dead people I run into, I had to walk up real close and see if they are really breathing. I know, it's creepy, but doesn't everyone do that at funerals? Anyway, of course she jumped out and scared me. I yelped, it was super scary! Then, Ben comes walking up with Emmaline who hadn't yet seen the scene. Her description was this: "There was a skeleton, and it was really a human, and it scared me". She ran away screaming and crying. I felt terrible that I didn't stop the whole thing from happening, and Ben just laughed and laughed, saying if given the chance, he would do it all over again. Luckily, Emma is now laughing about it.

Brooklyn's Halloween "trick"

2007-10-23T16:15:00.000-07:00

One morning Brooklyn was being extra quiet playing in her room. So I went in, and of course she is NOT in her room, but in my bathroom. The lights were off (for supreme secrecy) and when I opened the door all the way and gasped, she exclaimed in her low little voice "Supwise!". Needless to say I was devistated, but in my anger I saw a glimpse of humor, so I took a picture for later when it would be funny. It's been about 2 weeks now, and today she snuck into my purse and destroyed my favorite MAC lipstick. It's still not funny to me, but I put this out as a warning to all of my friends...keep your make-up locked up when Brooklyn is around!

2007-10-14T21:35:00.000-07:00

Today was Stake Conference. We got up, had our typical Sunday morning frenzy, got everyone fed, cleaned up, ready to go, and lo and behold our Stake Center was empty. We called around, and were told it was at another building, and it wasn't there either. So we went to the park and took family pictures. On a timer. AAAARGH!!!!

Stephenie Meyer totally knows me!

2007-09-23T20:03:00.000-07:00

2007-09-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

These are our homies Marin and Dallin enjoying popsicles and icecream on the balcony at 6:00 watching for all of the Daddies to get home from school. It's their favorite past time, and I get to make dinner while they do it...suddenly I am realizing why my kids are never hungry for dinner.

Daddy Daughter Campout 2007

2007-09-20T21:36:00.000-07:00

Emmaline, Brooklyn and Daddy set out for the annual ward campout last weekend. Yes, those are Emma's panties on Brooklyn's head. Needless to say, they all had a great time, and after hearing about the pringle/oreo meal, I didn't ask for any more details.

2007-09-11T00:02:00.000-07:00

Here's a little preview of what I may look like in May 2008! Yes it was a surprise, yes we are excited. Hopefully this time I don't let my roots go a full month before delivery day!

2007-08-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

sadly, this is our most recent all together family picture. The rest are all Ben or myself holding the camera.

Little Princess Brooklyn

2007-08-23T23:18:00.000-07:00

This kid is one of a kind! She made up a joke that is hilarious to her, and it goes like this: brooklyn: Knock...knock, Mommy: Who's there?, Brooklyn: Tickle Emmaline!! HA ha ha ha ha!

She adores her big sister Emmaline and follows her very move. At night when Emma sneaks out of bed, gets caught, and starts crying and feigning injury, sure enough Brooklyn is right behind her with the exact same injury. She loves her little friends, especially Olliver, who she tenderly refers to as Ollie. Brooklyn is my little buddy, and is found almost always riding on my left hip. She is singing the ABC's, and loves to count everything. She is very strong minded, and does whatever she wants when she wants, not caring about the consequence (See above picture, she decided to have a rest, in the middle of the sidewalk.) She is turning 2 in November, and we can't believe our little baby is getting so big!

2007-08-23T22:46:00.000-07:00

I think it was best said by my Father in Law, "I just don't get it. How could 2 people as homely as you two produce such beautiful children?" I totally agreed, but then I remembered that I am married to a super Hottie, and now I know how they got so cute. Meet Emmaline, 3 1/2 years old, who is already lying about her age. She never admits to a day younger than 4. She is a different princess every hour, and LOVES to be the boss. She loves to talk to everyone, and assumes that everyone she meets is her new friend. (I wonder where she got those traits!) Up until about a month ago, she was quite a performer. She would recite the pledge of allegiance to anyone who wanted to hear it, and perform any Disney princess song with vibrato. Suddenly she became self conscience, and it breaks my heart! She recently exclaimed to me< "Mommy, I HATE brown hair! I want yellow hair like you!" It made me so sad that she would already care about all the dumb stuff that we girls worry about for the rest of her life. I promptly pointed out all of my pretty brunette girlfriends, and for good measure Belle, Jasmine, and Dora, and she seems satisfied again. We adore her, and she makes us laugh hard at least once a day.

2007-08-23T22:40:00.000-07:00

February 27, 2007

2007-02-28T00:10:00.000-08:00

We are having a great time in LA. Ben has been studying quite a bit, and we are missing him. I feel like I am finally earning my stars as a dental student's wife. I am so proud of him, and we really enjoy our weekends when we get to spend time as a family. Emmaline and Brooklyn are getting so big. They are really enjoying each other's company, and we all laugh a lot. Brooklyn is starting to understand more words, and trys them out.