We have MOVED!!!

To the pool that is...if you need us we will be there!!!

We have spent more time at the pool this year then we have at home...I can not even begin to say how much I LOVE having a neighborhood pool!

Lydia has become quite the little fish...and I have to say I love seeing her with a little tan line and sunkissed cheeks!

Swimming Lessons

Lydia had her first session of swimming lessons. She absolutely LOVED it, even though she failed (ha ha ha!) Yes she has to re-take pre-level...she hates putting her face under water which doesn't help (she is definitely my child) Anyways Audrey and I had fun watching Lydia learn ice cream scoop arms, and gorilla-airplane-soilder, and doing supermand and batman. She learned the "Alligator, Alligator, what time is it?" game and she loved doing chop, chop timber with her cute teacher. We will for sure be doing another session next week and hopefully she passes this time (ha ha ha!)

Kicks

Learning "Ice Cream Scoop Arms"

Ring around the Rosies

She didn't look to happy after...but it was because I made her get out!

Welcome Home Elder Knudsen

WELCOME HOME ELDER DARIN KNUDSEN!!!

We couldn't be more thrilled to have Chris' brother home. He was serving in the San Juan, Puerto Rico mission. He actually extended while on his mission so we were really missing him by the time he got home. It is so nice to have the family all together again

Darin with 5 other elders he served with!

Brother's don't shake hands, brothers gotta hug!

So fun to see him again!

The fam!

Mommy Kay, and Grandpa White...aren't they cute?

The kids with posters in place!

For Lydia it was like meeting him for the first time she was only 1 when he left.

The Princess Festival!

Princess Festival 2011

So I had seen a billboard about the "Princess Festival" and decided that Lydia needed a fun day dedicated to her! So we got our tickets and headed down to Thanksgiving Point for the festival. We hadn't been before and I had heard mixed reviews from different people but I have to say we had so much fun. I thought we would maybe last an hour and 4 1/2 hours later the festival was closing and Lydia was begging to stay. To say the least it was TOTALLY worth every penny.

Lydia was a little shy with the characters, all I could figure was it was a mix of seeing her favorite characters in real life and trying to decide if they were strangers. It also didn't help that one of the first characters we saw was Beauty and the Beast and the Beast did look a little scary (ha ha ha!)

We got lots of Autograph's, saw all the different shows (except 1) and had a lot of FUN! We will definitely be going again next year!

We hadn't been there for more then 30 seconds when we ran into friends!

Tink was one of the first characters she met, can you tell she is being SO shy?

Getting her nails painted to match her dress!

Beauty...the Beast is in the background but Lydia wasn't going anywhere near him.

Sleeping Beauty...Lyd was still definitely trying to keep her distance.

Making a wish at the wishing well!

Watching the Aladdin show

Auds as always was such a Champ, she really is such a great baby!

I had to put this pic in to show her two new teeth...poor thing teething hasn't been kind to her.

Princess Mila...she is one of the Festival originals

Little mermaid or Little Liddy?

Lydia was so excited to dress up as Rapunzel

Lydia finally warmed up a little bit to Rapunzel...she told her she was her favorite!

When we got home I asked Lyd which princess she was the most excited to meet...she said "CAPTAIN HOOK...he is a PIRATE!"

Lydia told me "Mom, she is BEAUTIFUL!"

The Cinderella show...we got to go to the ball!

Getting her face painted!

Lydia really didn't want to leave, we spent like 15 minutes alone on this carriage outside the festival. I just couldn't get this little girly away!

Lake Powell...oh how I have missed you!

Well we had our Annual Lake Powell trip, and again it didn't disappoint! Chris wasn't able to come this year due to having to work, this is his "Summer of Work" as we call it, in hopes that next year when Auds is a little older we will be able to have a little more fun together (we will see!)

We drove down Wed. afternoon and who are we kidding other then price canyon (the longest hour of my life) both kids were great in the car. We got in about 4:30 and had dinner, it was pretty windy so we decided to stay on the slip and head to the beach in the morning.

Even though Derek and Ashley were still in South America and Chris wasn't there we still had a full boat. Tyler invited his buddies and 4 girls (for once the girls actually helped, rather then just sat around laying out!)

We anchored the Malibu to an orange bouy and hence was born the theme song of the trip. "How forever feels" by Kenny Chesney. It starts out "Big orange ball sinking in the water" Throughout the trip everyone would randomly sing those words and honestly you couldn't help but bust out laughing. Lydia was even singing along by the end (it may not be that funny unless you were there, that is what Chris has informed me!)

Lydia was so excited to be on the house boat. My dad kept saying Lydia this is your house boat and she was so sure to correct him, "No Grandpa this is your houseboat" itti � l e Ho h5 l be able to have a little more fun together (we will see!)

Even Audrey got settled pretty quickly, she really enjoyed all the attention. All of the girls that Tyler brought were so cute with both of my girls, they got pretty spoiled and not just by Nana and Grandpa.

Thursday morning we were off to the beach. I was so excited, we hadn't been to a beach since before I was even pregnant with Lydia. I was so excited not to have to feel like we were staying in a fish bowl, I swear when you stay on the slip you get no privacy.

Lydia loved helping my dad drive the boat, she was so excited that the boat was actually moving in the water.

Both kiddo's loved loved looking out the window while we were driving!

As soon as we got to the beach, both kids were in swimming attire and ready to PLAY! We got anchored, and got the malibu anchored and we were all ready to start really enjoying our trip. Tyler and his buddies had bought a 100 ft. slip n' slide and so right away they all started digging out the slide from the top of the hill into the water.

Audrey loves, loves, loves her Nana...you can tell that she knows her every time she see's my mom she gets the biggest smile on her face and she reaches for her!

My little drooler...both of her bottom teeth have emerged but there must be more on the way since she just own't stop drooling.

Thursday I got in a few ski runs, and was able to surf a couple of times as well, it was so windy so it wasn't the perfect glass that I always look forward to, but I won't complain I was just glad to be able to do the things I love this year now that the little munchkin above is not hanging out in my belly! Audrey loved her bath time...even if it was in a house boat sink!

We spent the whole first day trying to track down a family friends that had a pump and hose so we could have constant water flowing while doing the slip n' slide, once we got that it was go time. It was so much fun to watch and even more fun to do. Lydia even loved it and went a few times with me and Tyler.

Auds hanging out with Grandpa watching the slip n' sliders.

No lake powell trip is complete without some movies or t.v. this year was no exception, I was able to get everyone on the boat who wasn't already obsessed with Modern Family! Years ago Lake Powell was where I was finally able to convince my family that the office was funny. If the trip had been a little longer I may have gotten them hooked on Parks and Rec and community. Because we literally watched every episode of Modern Family Season 1 twice, Lydia played a lot of leapster and Audrey played with her toys quite a bit!

The boys decided to rig up total hick fishing poles and make hooks out of wire hangers so they could settle a bet with the girls that they brought. Let's just say that fish will have some pretty incredible stories to share with his fishy friends about being kissed by 3 girls. Lydia was so interested in it, when she told Chris about it she said "daddy the girls kissed this fish, and he FREAKED out!" ha ha ha

Love this pic...shows what we did a lot of, playing with toys!

After two days of wind decided to take a day trip to the grotto. As usual it was BEAUTIFUL! Usually in June we go to the grotto for cooler water and to relax, this year the water was only about 74 in the main channel which means the grotto was quite a bit cooler. It was still fun and Lydia loved listening to her echo with uncle Tyler. This was Audrey's very first time on the ski boat, and she did awesome. She didn't cry once, and was even able to fall asleep with the muscle man suit on. She was so cute whenever the music would come on she would tap her hand on her belly to the beat, you can kind of see in the pic above...I guess she has to have rhythm after being in my belly for 9 months listening and dancing to music (ha ha ha!)

This little cutie LOVED being on the boat!

Lydia fell asleep...If only we could go on a boat ride every day (ha ha ha!)

Lydia was SO excited when she saw her playhouse when we got home, we had to go right out and play!!!

We had so much fun, it was such an amazing trip and as usual we had a fabulous time! We were even able to have a bonfire with smores the last night. And I am not going to lie seeing the Lake Powell stars at night really is priceless...even Lydia was amazed by them. I love being able to share the same vacations and same experiences I had with my kids. I hope that they will grow to love lake powell as much as their mom, if they don't they are going to have a lot of "unfun" vacations, cause I am going there til I die (ha ha ha!)