She says the funniest things....

So my cute McKenzie has a couple cousins...who she calls step sisters...who got their ears pierced in the last couple of days and begged us to let her do the same. I told her she has to ask her dad because I am mostly okay with it and I wanted to make sure that he was too. Dad told her that she could as soon as she brushes her teeth twice a day all by herself without being asked so she can learn the discipline needed to clean her earrings twice a day. tha plan was to do that for about a month. Well...yesterday...two days into it, she asked dad how firm he was on the month, followed with a big hug and kiss. If she still wants to, she is going to get her ears pierced tomorrow! Now she could change her mind, which I would not be upset about, but we will see. So last night, I am tucking her in bed and she says "Mom, I am so lucky to have two parents who... (this is where I think she is going to say, love me ) want me to get my ears pierced. Even though you are both stressing about it!" I love this girl!

Student of the Month

Congratulations student of the month! At McKenzie's school they choose one student from each class to receive the student of the month award. The teacher writes a little note saying why they chose that student and then they present the awards and read the notes at an assembly. McKenzie was nominated because of her good behavior, always willing to help, and being a friend to everyone. Good job McKenzie. We are so proud of you!

Halloween In Disneyland!

We had the best halloween ever! We decided this summer that we wanted to see Disneyland at Halloween, so what better weekend to go than Halloween weekend! McKenzie wanted to be a cowgirl for Halloween this year, so this is the costume we came up with. I think it is pretty cute! We got the cowgirl boots, skirt, and hat and just needed a vest, so we called Mom! She made this vest for McKenzie and it turned out great. McKenzie is lucky to have the best grandmas ever!

We started our vacation on Friday the 29th, after the Kindergarten Fall Festival of course. We drove down to Vegas and stayed the night with Bodie's sister. It was a lot of fun since we don't get to see them very often. McKenzie was in heaven playing with her cousins. We had breakfast with them Saturday morning, and then we were on our way. Saturday was my birthday, so Bodie made a surprise stop in Primm, Nevada at the outlet malls for a shopping trip. It was awesome! After that, we drove the rest of the way to Disneyland and spent the evening at Bubba Gump's Shrimp for dinner, than a walk around Downtown Disney, just to check things out. On our way back to the Hotel, we stopped at Cold Stone for ice cream. It was the best birthday ever! We stayed at the Ramada Inn Maingate, literally right across the street from disneyland. So, on Halloween morning, we got up and walked over to Disneyland. It was so fun to see how excited McKenzie got to see all the characters, rides, and decorations. We left Disneyland around 4 to go back to the hotel for dinner and to change into our costumes for Mickey's Halloween Party. We went back over at 6:30 and spent the night getting so much candy we could hardly hang onto our bags, went on a couple rides, and watched the fireworks show. There was a parade at 10, but McKenzie was falling asleep in her stroller asking to go back to the hotel, so we did! Monday, we were all very well rested and spent the whole day going back and forth between the two parks. It was awesome. We don't get to go on very many vacations with just the 3 of us, and it was so fun. I am so glad we did it. I can't wait to go back next year! October in Disneyland is the best time to go!

At Mickey's Halloween Party. I know it isn't a great picture, but it's the best we could get!

McKenzie and Jesse...the two cowgirls

McKenzie on the Teacups. The first ride at Disneyland. This was her favorite ride until she discovered Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Railroad, and Space Mountain!

McKenzie and Dad outside Sleeping Beauty's castle

McKenzie and Belle

McKenzie and Ariel...her favorite princess!

Soccer and Gymanstics

Well...we just finished our first season of soccer. I was going to sign McKenzie up for soccer last year, but she kept telling me that she wanted to do it when she turned 5. Sure enough right about when she turned 5 she asked if she could play soccer, so we signed her up. She had 9 games...most on Saturdays. And, she got to be on a team with one of her friends. The teams consist of 8 kids...hers was 2 girls and 6 boys....and 4 play at a time. She loved it. At first she would run after the ball and only try to kick it if it was out in the open. After the second game, I asked her if she knew that she could take the ball away from the kids on the other team. She said No. After we got that figured out, she was a pretty aggressive little soccer player. On our way to the last game she told me that her legs were tired and she wasn't sure if she felt like running. I told her sorry...she wanted to sign up for this and she was going to play. Once the game started, she got really into it. She even made 2 goals! She called everyone she could think of to tell them! We had a lot of fun this season and can't wait until it starts up again in the spring.

Mckenzie has also been taking gymnastics since May. She absolutely loves it. It has given her so much confidence and she is much more willing to try new things. She is almost completely fearless there. She wants to learn how to do back handsprings so bad. She has been practicing on the couch and finally got it down. She can now do them...on the couch...by herelf. They practice on a wedge at gymnastics and her coach told me the other day that she is confident that she can do them by herself on the wedge and is going to have her try next week. McKenzie is a great little gymnast. She has even decided that she doesn't mind being small because she strong. She knows she is strong because as she says...everyone at gymnastics tells her she is the strongest girl in the class. I say...good for her!

Camping Trip to Spruces!

So, about a month or so ago we bought a tent trailer. We were so excited to use it, but McKenzie's soccer games have totally taken up our weekends so we hadn't been able to take it out. A couple weekends ago, we decided that we would go after McKenzie's soccer game up to the Spruces campground for a night. I love that campground. It is up in Big Cottonwood Canyon and is sooo nice. Anyway, we took the trailer up there Saturday and had Les, Nate, and the kids, and Mere come up for dinner...dutch oven chicken, carrots, and potatoes...yum! For desert...as many s'mores as we could eat. The kids thought it was hilarious to catch the marshmallows on fire, just so they could blow them out like a candle. It was so much fun. Sunday we got up and put everything away and started our hike to Dog Lake. We wanted to go to donut falls, but found out that our trailer couldn't go with us. Boo! Anyway, we started the hike, but go too hungry and tired to actually get to the lake, so we turned around and came home. We had a so much fun and were VERY sore the next day...what a hike!

At the campground...she always has to pose for the picture.

On our hike, we found a fort. McKenzie kept calling it her home!

Hiking around the campground.

Welcome Fall

I love fall. Not the part where you don't know what summery clothes to keep in the closet...just in case it gets warm, but I love the cooler weather, the colors of the trees, and I love, love, love the halloween decorations. My mom and I took McKenzie to Gardiner Village the other day to see the witches and shop around. It was such a fun afternoon.

McKenzie with the hula hooping witch. Of course Mckenzie made sure to point out to us that she can hula hoop much better than that witch can.

McKenzie and the frog witch.

McKenzie in the carraige.

If you haven't been there yet this season, I suggest you go! Oh and don't forget the bread to feed the ducks. That is the one thing we didn't get to do.

Dallas!

McKenzie and I got to have a much needed girls weekend a few weeks ago when my friend's husband had to go out of town and we decided to go out to Dallas to keep Kelly company. It was so much fun and despite what she says, she has some of the cutest, funnest kids. We had a great time! Thanks so much to Kelly for showing us around for the weekend and letting us crash her house!

Things we did:










Went to the Dallas Aquarium. It was so awesome. I was totally impressed.










Playing with the river otters. They loved it.
















They took any chance they could to pose for a picture.









This was McKenzie's favorite part. She loved the sea turtles and manatees.




Checking the map to see where we go next.




Merry go round at the Fort Worth Zoo.
















By the elephant. Don't they look like supermodels! This zoo was really cool too. It makes the Hogle Zoo look really wimpy!









We went to the Rain Forest Cafe, which I had never been to but it was too dark to get a good picture. The Rain Forest Cafe was a lot of fun. Better food than I had expected. I would totally recommend it!

We also did a lot of eating out, talking, laughing, and got in a lot of House Hunters, which happens to be my favorite show! Oh and we did get in a walk one day...a little exercise to burn off all the food and treats we ate!

Thanks again Larson's! We'll have to do it again really soon. Actually McKenzie now wants Bodie to be a dentist so we can live in Texas. She did inform me that Bodie can't be a Vet though...because he is allergic to cats and what if a cat needs to be fixed? Bad news for Dad!

Happy Anniversary!

Wow... our 11th wedding anniversary! I can't believe it has been 11 years. I still feel so young, but maybe it is because I am still pretty immature sometimes! We celebrated by going to dinner at Market Street Grill. It was delicious. We were pretty boring since we had both been working a lot that week, but we planned on spending Labor Day together, just the three of us. As it turns out, Bodie was on call that weekend and ended up working for most of it. We did get to go on a little hike on Labor Day up in Middle Canyon which was lots of fun . Anyway...it has been a wonderful 11 years!

First Day of School

Posing for the first day of school pictures!

McKenzie finally had her first day of Kindergarten. Finally in her words...not mine! She has done great going this first week. She goes in the morning and on the second day of school, she asked me if she could start walking in by herself...I said no! I had to make sure she knew where her class was! Now that she knows, she walks in by herself and is so proud of herself. She told me the other day that she had made a friend in class and when I asked what her friend's name is, she said she didn't know. She is really good at going, and doing her reading homework, but just about falls apart at night. I know she is just trying to figure out what it means to be in kindergarten...she has to be big, and independant, and has to do it for the next 20 years! When we were getting ready for the second day of school, she said that she didn't want to go anymore because she has to wake up so early and she doesn't even have time to do yoga anymore. I realize that it has only been a week so far, but overall, the whole school starting thing has gone over pretty well!

Summer 2010

Here are some of the highlights of our summer....which is quickly winding down!

Palisades Lake with the Topham family where we spent most of our time at the lake. It is such an awesome place. I want to go back next year!
Playing at the park in Manti with cousins....all these girls will be in Kindergarten this year. I wish we lived closer so they could all go together!!

Swimming....in her clothes....in the lake by Aunt Allisons house in Berthoud, Colorado
We went to Colorado to visit Aunt Allison and Great Grandma Dangerfield with Grandma Diane, Leslie and her kids, and Connor and Grace.

Riding Dallas at Aunt Allison's house

Getting ready for the 4th of July parade in Tooele with her gymnastics class. She has been taking Gymnastics since May and absolutely loves it....especially when she found out she gets to be in a parade!

Tooele Gymnastics Academy float. you can barely see her but she is the third one over from the right on the front row. She was really into throwing candy so I had a hard time getting her attention! After the Parade, we went to the park in Tooele to hang out and then we went over to a BBQ at our friends house followed by fireworks. It was a lot of fun.

McKenzie and I joined Grandma, Grandpa, Tami, Mere, Les, Janece and the cousins at the 24th of July Parade in Salt Lake. We went down at about 5pm on the 23rd to help Mom save her spot. I wasn't sure if McKenzie would fall asleep next to a very busy, noisy street, but she did great. She loved the parade and watched it way better than I ever did when I was a kid. I was always too hot and tired to enjoy it much after sleeping over. She said she wants to go next year but she is going to try to get more sleep next time. After the parade we went back to my Mom's house for lunch and then went to cool off in her pool at the Cottonwood Club...it was soooo nice! After swimming, it was time for dinner and then the Days of '47 Rodeo, which she loved. We had a very busy day and were totally exhausted by the time it was over, but we had a great time!

Funny Stuff

So everyone tells me that I should write down some of the stuff Mckenzie says because she is so funny sometimes, so here it is:

Yesterday when my friend needed us to watch her daughter, who is 3 (McKenzie is 5 by the way) McKenzie wanted me to drop her off so she could babysit all by herself. She told me she was practically like a teenager because she can babysit and surf board...which she has never done. I told her that we should try surf boarding sometime and she said she would...only if she could have goggles and floaties on!

Then we went up to my brother's house up in Ogden and right before we were leaving, my nephew..who makes fun of me because I make McKenzie eat healthy...told her to make sure I got her a bug juice on the way home. Of course she asks me for one and I tell her no because she needs to drink more water. She told me that I needed to make myself be nice and let her have a bug juice. Thank you Taylor!

She also told me that she wants me to call the school and tell them that she wants to be in all day kindergarten. She has suddenly gotten a very independent streak...which I think is not all bad.

Happy 5th Birthday McKenzie

My sweet daughter!

So last week, McKenzie turned 5. I can't believe it...she is already 5! She had a fun "friends" party at her gymnastics place. they did a bunch of obstacle courses. The highlight of course was jumping down the tumbling track into the foam pit. McKenzie also thought it was so cool when her coach said that she didn't have to follow normal gym rules because it was a birthday party...she could have free reign of the gym. She was in heaven. After an hour in the gym, she got to have cupcakes and presents which was her other favorite part!

The princess also got a cousins swimming party the day before her birthday. Thanks to Grandma Diane she got to have a swimming party at the country club with all her cousins. And the highlight....she got to have both Grandma's there. Grandma Topham came up with Eron and Emma. We met at my Mom's house for lunch, then went over to the club to swim for a couple hours. After that, we went back to Grandma Diane's house for snow cones and cookies. No pictures of that party though since I forgot my camera. I am relying on Grandma Topham to send me the ones that she took!

On her actual birthday, we took her to the Gateway to make a build-a-bear, then got dinner and went to Toy Story 3 in 3d. It was a fun movie...the first party was anyway. We made it through an hour of the movie when Bodie got called out and we had to leave so he could go to work. Boo! She was so good about it though and we promised we would take her to see all of it another day. All in all I think she had a fun 5th birthday.

Oh...I almost forgot. According to McKenzie I am the best mom ever. That's right....EVER, and I'll tell you why. Bodie and I got her a snow cone maker for her birthday. The girl loves snow cones more than any other treat, so I thought it would be fun to get her a snow cone maker. That cuts my trips for slushies way down which is a bonus for me! SO, when you're in the mood for a snow cone, head on down to my house!
Some things about the 5 year old McKenzie:

She love, love, loves gymnastics...she has only taken it for a couple months and is always tumbling around the house.

She loves to listen to Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Hannah Montanna, and Miley Cyrus. She is also always singing and dancing around the house.

She loves to be the center of attention...which is a complete 180 from my 2 year old McKenzie who was so shy, I wondered if she would ever get over it.

She is so sweet. She is constantly making sure that I am happy...except when she is being sassy!

She is smart and beautiful and I am so lucky she is my daughter!

McKenzie can't wait to start kindergarten. She loves to learn new things and I am totally confident that she will do great.

McKenzie....we love ya...more than you will ever know!

Swimming through the foam pit. (not sure what setting I had my camera on, but all the action shots came out blurry!)

Opening the snow cone maker

Enjoying a snow cone!

It's Summer!!!!

We are loving summer here! I know Mckenzie was just in preschool, but I am loving not having to get her up early! So far, our summer has consisted of a family Lagoon day with all the Dangerfield's and Taylor's girlfriend...Tori! The girls were so excited that she was going to be there and they were all fighting about who got to go on the rides with her. Thanks Tori for being so awesome with the girls! We have also had several cousins sleepovers. We have had Lily, Lucy, Luke, Grace, Emma, and Eron over (at different times!) When Bodie's mom came to pick up Emma and Eron, she invited McKenzie to go up to Logan with her for a few days to hang out with her cousins up there. Lucy earned a sleepover all by herself so she called us yesterday and said "guess what? It's tonight!" When I asked what tonight was she said it was the night for her sleepover at our house, but she could only stay for 5 nights! Leslie heard and corrected her in the background. Anyway, we have had so much fun! The girls are sitting here watching Phineas and Ferb saying how hilarious it is, but I don't hear any laughing! They got in a couple fights last night so they came to me and said, that they accidentally fought a little, but that tomorrow would be a better day and they would try harder to not fight! McKenzie is lucky to have all her cousins be her best friends. Even the Hawaii cousins that we don't get to see much! We will always be so glad that we decided to go out there and spend a few weeks with them.

Much love to all the cousins!

I have the best daughter ever.....

I am always thinking about how cool my daughter is so I thought that I would actually write it down and she will be able to read it someday and know that despite all of my grumpiness sometimes, I really do think she is the best. Yesterday we were walking to Nigh Time to get some donuts and she had her baby and her "baby bag" that she wanted to take with her. She told me that in her baby bag, she had a diet coke for me just in case I need one. I thought it was so cute that when she was packing her bag she would think of me.
Other things I love about McKenzie:

• I love to watch her sing and dance....she wants to be a rockstar when she grows up and she is well on her way!
• She loves babies, which includes all kids younger than her. So if she is ever treating your 3 year old like a baby it is because she loves to mother kids younger than her!
• She loves to write in her science journal like Sid the Science kid. She loves to learn new things.
• She still loves to hang out with me and her dad, which I hear will change when she is a teenager!
• Believe it or not, I even sometimes like it when she gets a little sassy and talks back. I try discipline and most times I do, but sometimes it just cracks me up!
• She is funny....one night I told her that she could watch one Phineas and Ferb on my bed before she went to sleep. She came out and said...Mom, I accidentally watched 2 shows instead of one. This morning, she told me that she woke up to dance! And yesterday as we were walking past the mortuary and saw the casket in the hearse (everyone was outside crying getting ready to go to the cemetery) and McKenzie said, loudly, "there's the dead body"
• She's my little buddy. I just love to hang out with her. She's the best!

I am so blessed to have been given such a great daughter! We love you kid!

Girl's Trip!

McKenzie and I got to go on a girls trip to Hawaii for 2 weeks this past month. We were going to go out to visit Amanda and help with the kids while David was supposed to be on a sub for 6 months. Turns out, he had to come home early, so we got to see him which was an added bonus...especially when he watched all the kids including McKenzie so that Amanda and I could go out shopping and to dinner. We had so much fun. The plane rides were worth it. (Of course that is the worst part but McKenzie did great...better than me!)

Some things we did in Hawaii:

Fun at the Dole Plantation...eating pineapple ice cream, riding the train, and feeding the fish.

Driving the Escalade around the block and pretending they were taking each other to school

BBQ chicken at the Hale Koa in Waikiki, then play at the beach until dark, grab a piece of cheesecake from cheescake factory and watching the fireworks at the beach....it was a great day!

We had lots of chances to swim in the ocean

At the Zoo

Shave ice from Matsumotos....where Dawson had the worst day of his life when Amanda ...trying to be sneaky...dumped some of his shave ice on the ground because it was too big. He ran to the other side of the van and saw what she did. He was not happy!

Became mermaids in the sand - with water wings just in case the mermaids can't swim very well!

Play at the beach and watched the waves at the North ShoreI know it's a bad picture, but this is whale watching at the Makapu'u light house. It was really cool. We saw a lot of whales...or a few very active ones!