Crazy Weekend

We have had such a crazy weekend, and it shows in my house! I think I have at least three loads of laundry needing to be done desperately, there are still two suitcases sitting in my living room (they are empty at least), and the bedrooms are a disaster! But today is Sunday, and I refuse to do more than what is absolutely necessary (I hope that this is because I am trying to keep the Sabbath, but deep down I know that I just don't want to clean yet :-)
Sean and I went to Salt Lake City Friday night to go and watch Jerry Seinfeld. Sean is a big Seinfeld nut and when I told him that I had seen a commercial for this show, he had tickets within ten minutes. Seriously, a nut! My mom was so sweet to watch both of my girls (thank-you Mom!) even after I had warned her that Bryns is teething...or has a cold, or an ear infection (do you ever truly know at this age???).
The show was so much more funny than I expected. I got lost in pieces of it for a while (he talks really fast, and I might be going a bit deaf), but I really enjoyed it. He said that GOLf stands for "Get Out Leave Family" and that the whole idea of getting that little ball all the way down the fairway into that little hole was ridiculous and would take forever...but haha, thats the point. You will have to ask Sean for more pieces from the show. He was almost crying, he was laughing so hard. It was great.
Then, when we got home Saturday afternoon, we decided to go boating (I've got to jump the entire wake before my sister does...there is a dinner on the line here!). So, I frantically picked up the girls from Blackfoot and packed a bag for them for the boat, in which I forgot EVERYTHING! Diapers, clothes, food. Honestly, I'm not even sure what I did pack, because there was not anything that they needed in that bag!
But, it was still a lot of fun, despite the dramatic breakdowns from both girls because of all the items their wonderful mommy forgot to pack. I was able to jump the 'half-wake' again and I wasn't wussing out so much this time. I'm not sure if I am just getting better or if wearing Sean's helmet helped. Probably, the helmet. At least, with it, I know that there is still a chance of breaking an arm or leg, but at least my head will be safe from those awful, face-planting headaches!
So, wish me luck as I try to put my house back together tomorrow and get all that laundry done, since everyone knows how much I love doing laundry!!!

Zoo Day

The girls and I went to the zoo today. Taylee was such a good helper and wanted to push the stroller for me. She did great until we got to one of the hills then she said it was "Mommy's turn". And let me tell you, either I am getting older or those hills are getting steeper! My legs were burning by the time we got to the top! I know. I know. I am a wuss!

After we saw all the animals we stopped at the little Butterfly Garden. We haven't taken the time to stop there yet this year, and the girls loved it. There was a 'spider's web' that Taylee played on forever. And Brynlee wanted to copy her older sister (of course!). It was a lot of fun.

I Did It!

I landed my first wakeboarding jump yesterday! And I can't even put it into words how proud I am of myself! It was only a little jump, it is true, but I was still very excited. Sorry that there are no pictures. We had a camera and there were plenty of shots of me falling on my face, but none of me making it! Hopefully, I can get a lot of practice this summer and be doing flips by the end of the season! Hahaha! Yeah right.

But I've been thinking about it this morning and I wonder if I would have enjoyed wakeboarding more and been better at it when I was younger. It is a strange feeling being out on a wakeboard. It is definitely exciting, but it also brings out my wussy side. Each time that I would get ready to cut toward the wake my foremost thought was, "If I fall, this is really going to hurt!" And it does! These falls are not nice, soft side landings. Oh no, they are always face first nose dives that leave you with a crazy headache for days.

Sean told me that when I relax I do better, and if I were more brave that I could probably be doing big jumps soon. But I am such a wuss that I don't know if I can!

Why do we change this way? Ten years ago I loved to try new things and I never let my fears talk me out of it (I don't know about you, but my fears talk :-). Bridge jumping, snowboarding, bungee jumping. I tried them all without a second thought. And now I can't even get enough courage to jump the wake! As we get older do we simply like our 'comforts' more than excitement? I just don't know.

Taylee Update

She is doing great, but now Sean has taught her that when someone asks, "What happened to your eye?" she now responds, "You should see the other guy!" Oh, well. She does look like she has been in a boxing match, so I guess it works.

Sunbeams is Dangerous...Who Knew!

I have known for a long time that Taylee is a bit accident prone. Her eyebrows are criss-crossed with multiple scars from falls or jumps, but I never expected to have it happen at church! Yet, it did.

Sean and I team-teach a class in senior primary. Bryns was having a tough time sitting still in sharing time so Sean took his turn to walk the halls with her while I sat with our class. Well, when primary was over I started heading down the hall to pick up Taylee from Sunbeams not knowing if Sean had already headed that way or if he had gotten stopped by one of his friends. As I went down the hall, one of our friends told me that Sean had just come down the hall and one of our girls had fallen and was crying, but he wasn't sure which girl it was. I assumed that Brynlee had fallen (she's been doing that a lot lately as she is exploring her new found walking skills) and so I tried to hurry a bit to get Taylee (which is impossible in those jam-packed hallways!!). It was when I got to the Sunbeams room and saw the teacher holding Bryns that I knew something bad had happened. Apparently, during an exciting game of ring-around-the-rosy, Taylee had been knocked into the table and split her forhead open. So, I grabbed Bryns and tried to rush back down the hallway (I really think those hallways need slow lanes and fast lanes or something because I was very close to pushing a lot of slow people out of my way!! I'm such a sweetheart, I know:-). I finally found Sean and Taylee outside, and it was so tough to not start crying myself when I saw so much blood all over both of them and poor Taylee already had bruising on her chin, nose and all around her eye! Luckily, one of the sisters in our ward who is a nurse had helped Sean get the bleeding to slow down and one of the brethren who is a doctor took a look at it. We knew immediately that she would need stitches, but it was so nice to know that there were so many skilled and caring people ready to help.

We rushed to Physician's Immediate Care and Taylee was so sad, and kept repeating, "I fine! I fine!" and was very adament that she did not want stitches (can you guess that this was not a first time occurence for us?). But she was a trooper and did great with the doctor. But the funniest thing was when she became upset and told me that "My eyes not big!" Apparently, she did not like her eye being so swollen.

I am so grateful that every time that she has had to have stitches that Sean has been there. I am a big wuss and I cry just watching the procedure, I don't know if I could hold her still. He is amazing and is able to hold her and keep her distracted. I hope that she never has to get stitches again, but if she does, I hope that Sean is home!

Oh, and I promised Skye some pictures of our "Wzard of Oz" party that we had with Keegan and Gid. It was pretty simple but they had a lot of fun. Bryns was Dorothy. Taylee was the Tinman. Gid was the Scarecrow, and Keegan was the Cowardly Lion. We had a blast traveling in a tent (which you see behind them) on a tornado to Oz, going down the Yellow Brick Wall, meeting with the Wizard in Emerald City, and then stealing the Wicked Witches Broom. You will have to join us next time!

Taylee's Dance Recital

Dance has been a roller coaster ride. Taylee has really enjoyed the dance classes and she comes home wanting to dance all day. And it is such a relief to have her dancing like a little ballerina rather than a Michael Jackson wannabe (these are the moves that Sean has taught her:-) . She has definitely gained a lot of elegance and grace in her moves. In fact, just this last weekend we got to attend a cousin's baptism and she entertained everyone in the family by doing ballerina twirls during the musical number. For this I am grateful for dance class, and it has been well worth it. Yet, I have not enjoyed the performances as much. We have been to one tournament and then her end of year recital. It was a blast to see her dressed up in her costumes, but there was SOOOO much waiting, almost five hours at one, and three at the other. And for a group of three-year-olds, this is a tough thing to handle. In their second dance at the competition, there were two girls who just sat on the floor and cried. Luckily, the recital was very well ran and it went quickly. But between the long waits and then seeing the dances and costumes that the older girls had...well, lets just say that I was not impressed. I would be upset if either of my girls were asked to wear one of those outfits or to do some of those moves. Is this really the road that I want to push her down? Maybe the ballet? I don't know!! Between all of this, it has definitely left me wondering if I want to sign her up for dance next year. I already really want to sign her up for soccer in the fall, and with that and preschool, her schedule is pretty booked for a three-year-old. Any ideas on which one (dance or soccer) I should do?