Riding the train

Last Saturday we were trying to think of a fun yet inexpensive thing to do as a family. the girls love trains and Utah has the Trax public transit train so we decided to test it out. Needless to say it was a big hit. We rode it from Sandy up to Temple Square, and at every stop Eva would say "I want to go again!" When it was time to get off the train there were some tantrums, but I got some good shots of the temple before we headed over to the Conference Center. We took a tour and got to go up to the rooftop, which is beautifully landscaped. On the way home we had a little detour because we failed to pay attention to which train we got on, but we had some lunch and got back on the right train. If you have kids and have some time to waste I recommend taking a train ride!

And I have to comment on one of the things on the rooftop of the Conference Center, they have a mural up there made from granite, it is the coolest thing. They have compiled images of all different people from all different time periods that have been sandblasted into the stone. At the top it says "And this gospel shall be preached unto every nation, and kindred and tongue, and people." from Doctrine and Covenants 133:37, and as the tour guide pointed out, you can see yourself in the reflection as well. I though it was SO cool. There is a picture in the slide show, but here is the close up shot - you can see my reflection in it:

Sweet Peas

I have a few more pictures to share from Mallina's birthday. We re-decorated her cake and put in new candles and sang to her again on Sunday, her actual birthday :)

The cake, the second time around.
Mallina re-decorated it herself.
It think its pretty funny, even though it looks kinda gross.

Jaxson with one of his transformers. LOL

The only non-blurry pic of Eva, I think she is singing.

The birthday girl :)

My parents' yard is very large, they have an old shed out back that has the old run down look that a lot of photographers like for photo shoots. I need to learn how to edit them to look "old" too. Another "feature" of their yard is a fence and irrigation ditch lined with sweet peas. They were my grandma's favorite flower so my mom wanted to get a shot of the kids by them. When I told Eva we were going to take pictures, this is where she stopped and posed :)

And here are my "sweet peas" posing in front of the sweet peas.

Par-tay

Ever since we came to Utah and saw all of the horses in the fields around here, Mallina has asked and asked and asked to ride a horse. We made her dream come true for her birthday this year. The Thanksgiving Point farm gives pony rides and she got to ride 5 different times. She was in heaven :) It was a small party, just the four of us and my mom and my nephew Jaxson. Eva didn't like all of the animals very much, she kept saying "no no! leave me alone!" it was pretty funny. And she only lasted through one horse ride before she started crying. But Mallina and Jaxson loved it.

Four years

How did she go from this:

to this:
so darn FAST! Before you have kids you hear people say how fast it all goes by, and of course, not ever having experienced it, you kind of nod and say "yeah." But when your own baby starts growing up, it is exciting and a little heartbreaking at the same time.

Mallina's birth was one of the hardest days of my life. It was LONG and hard and she had some troubles as she was being born. I was so glad that it was OVER. I passed out from the drugs I begged for afterward and didn't see my little baby for a few hours. When I woke up Ieli was sitting over on the couch holding his new baby girl. It was the sweetest sight I've ever seen. She is a very determined little girl and has a temper that rivals mine, but I absolutely ADORE her. She makes me laugh everyday and I love to look at her, hug her, give her kisses, brush her hair (now that she actually has some!), read stories to her and watch her play. I am truly blessed to have Mallina Kay be my daughter.

This year I thought I would post/re-post some of her sillier moments. Enjoy :)

July 4th, 2009

We spent our fourth of July with the Fiji club in Provo at Kiwanis park. There was a BBQ, some rugby and volleyball, and lots of kids for Mallina and Eva to play with. I just put the pictures in a couple of slide shows...Mallina was spinning around and around and having a good time, and I like the shots I got of her :)

After we were at the park, we went back to Pleasant Grove and watched fireworks there, it was a pretty good show! We had a nice, fun weekend. Now we are planning for Mallina's birthday this weekend. She wants a party with Woody and Buzz from Toy Story, so we are going to the farm at Thanksgiving Point so she can ride a pony :) I can't believe she is going to be four!

In other news, Ieli got hired at the Provo Canyon School to work one on one with a student who attends school there, and so far everyone is really impressed with Ieli and it looks like he may have a nice long future with them. Now we are just waiting on me to get a job...yikes! Hopefully I will get lucky and get some calls for interviews soon!