All Day Outdoors Adventure

We had a fun adventure with my good friend Erin and her adorable family yesterday at Rocky Mountain National Park. We were there from about about noon until 7:30ish. We drove around, stopped at some scenic areas and let the kids hike around, went to a beautiful lake and "fished" (let the kids play with the fishing poles) and had a nice lunch and a walk. We ended up that night at a cute little park at the mouth of the mountains entrance and let the kids play one last time. Here the kids are hiking around near a very big drop off. Kennedy was much more daring than I would have liked and I was the obnoxious paranoid mom the whole time.
The short little walk after our picnic resulted in our little Sophies first sunburn..poor thing.
How cute is that? This picture just goes to show how much Ken likes Milo because most boys to her are "stinky".
The beautiful lake we walked around while the sun was going down.
Some elk spotting along the drive.
I will be printing and framing this picture in Kennedy's room, sooo cute! It also cracks me up because Ken is trying to do this sweet little face. Kennedy is a lot of things but sweet..not so much.

Nice belly shot of the kids. They had so much fun together.
The Dads and the kids, we are lucky gals.
One of the beautiful overlooks where Ken was freakin me out.

Tarts

I tried out a cheese, onion and heirloom tomato tart and it was really good. I could only handle one slice because it was really rich with the cheeses but yummy. Mike took half of the tart to work today so that must mean he liked it too.

I need to do some journaling about my girls so this may be of no interest but here goes:

Kennedy

*currently loves to eat crunchy bread, spagettios, milk, apple juice, green beans, olives, almonds, chicken, potatoes in all forms, chocoate in all forms, cereal, waffles and fish crackers.

*when she plays she usually dresses up, dances, plays with ponies, pets or barbies. Loves to paint and draw. Works on her letters and draws people really well. Loves to read books and go to the library. Also likes to play on the computer on pbskids.org or other kid sites.

*She plays in the backyard and pretends she is in the Labyrinth or that she is Alice in Wonderland.

*She is really missing her Texas/Utah friends and family. She plays mostly with mom and dad and gets in sisters face constantly. She loves her new friends Milo and Isabel and we're hoping she makes more friends soon.

*Still takes a two hour nap a day, we try to put her to bed at 8:00 but she probably doesn't actually go to sleep until 10:00

*She is very bright, has several books memorized and quotes them constantly along with songs and lines from movies. She loves to learn about everything and to hear stories about when her mom and dad were little or before she was born.

*She is very emotional, winey and can be extremely onory at times (like waking up in the morning and from naps) but she can also be really funny and entertaining.

*Most comments revolve around her birthday, how old she is or any upcoming holiday

*She keeps telilng me what she wants to be for Halloween and so far it has changed everyday

*talented dancer for a three year old (although I may be partial)

Sophie

*the best way to describe her is sweet.

*always tries to smile for people even when she is crying

*wakes up with a smile on her face and coos and makes girly noises all the time

*is almost four months old and eats about 4-6 oz every 2-3 hours.

*starting to spit up quite a bit...we were hoping we would avoid it

*easy to settle down when she is sad, although from about 6-8 each night she has a fussy time

*gassy little girl

*excellent sleeper, can only handle being awake for a few hours before she is ready to sleep again

*She is so fat that she gets milk under her several chins and it goes sour and smells horrible

*she will just lay with me and look at me and talk

I am thankful for...
We are a blessed little family with so much to be greatful for. We are all healthy, have never had any major health problems or accidents, Mike has done well in school and is enjoying what he does and he does it well (just got a review from his attending and she said he is doing great), we have a cute rental house which we love, we live in a free country (although the upcoming election scares me either way it goes), we have family and friends that love and support us, we live in a beautiful state with mountains and the perfect climate, our daughters are stinkin cute and a lot of fun, I get to stay home and be a mom (all on the government/student loans tab...which will haunt us for years after school), we always have food to eat and clothes to wear, we have been able to travel out of the country and in the country, we are members of the LDS church and have lived in amazing wards with people who have been incredible examples to us, Heavenly Father is aware of our needs and blesses us beyond what we deserve.
What are you thankful for?

Sometimes greener isn't always better

I love my husband, let me first just say that before I make fun of him. In an effort to be "green" he bought a push lawn mower..

Something like this one, no motor therefore no gas required. While he was gone to clincals yesterday I thought I would do him a favor and put it together and mow the lawns. First I must admit that I HAVE NEVER MOWED A LAWN before in my life. So sad, but true. One of the perks to being the only girl in a family (and definitely not the only one). So I put the thing together no problem and then I tried mowing the back lawn. Funny that my first lawn mowing experience would be with this archaic piece of crapola. The only positive thing I can say about it was that it was a good workout, and we barely have any yard! Kennedy got out her scissors and helped me edge the lawn when I was done..what a little helper. Mike got home, took one look outside and laughed. He re-mowed my mowing job and was so annoyed with the thing that he threw it in the back of our car and returned it, only to come back with a gas powered one. Our neighbors were nice enough to let us use theirs for the front yard when they saw Mike getting really annoyed trying to mow the front with the push mower. So all I can say is, we tried.

I did make a yummy dinner with one of our herbs though, lemon and rosemary chicken. So easy and so good. I just browned the chicken with olive oil, covered it in lemon slices and rosemary and cooked it at 400 for about 35 minutes. We had it with rice, baguette slices and some cheese we were trying out. We took a trip to Whole Foods and got a few cheeses to try...we love to try new food. Tonight I am making a torte with heirloom tomatoes, fontina and goat cheese and basil- we'll see how it goes but it sounded yummy!

Today was absolutely beautiful, low 80's. I could stay outside all day! Here is Ken after playing in the water, enjoying a nice fudge bar. Sophie is somewhere under that enormous sun hat. My poor pasty redheads will be forever covered in sunscreen and large southern church going hats.

Rocky Mountain High

My herb garden: mint, chives, rosemary and basil.
Kennedy driving her car in our new neighborhood.

A growth chart I made for the girls bedroom (they have ABC bedding and primary colors)
Kennedy and Sophie in our packed car on our drive from Utah to Colorado.
Little Sophie. I love that preppy is back, my kids would wear school uniforms everyday if it wasn't weird. I love argyle, knee socks, polos and khakis.
Our mantle in the new house, who are those adorable kids?

Kennedy playing a little charades in my parents backyard.
One of my favorite things to do at my parents, sit by the fire, roast some mallows and laugh.

Sophie and Kennedy's polka dot bathroom in the new house.

Kennedy riding a horse at Gardner Village in Utah.
Blake was showing Kennedy a movie on his Iphone but she wasn't very interested. Ben, Mike and Blake haven't stopped playing with their phones since they got them.
Kennedy,, Mckay and Syd playing on the playground at my parents...Kennedy misses them so much already!

Well John Denver was right, Colorado is beautiful! We have been here for about a week and a half and so far it has been really busy but a lot of fun. Our car ride that was suppose to take 8 hours took 11, with kids having to go to the bathroom and eat but it was bearable. We had our car packed so tightly you could just see Kennedy and Sophie's little eyes peeking out through all the stuff. We are really enjoying having a yard and more room in our house. It is so fun to see people out running, riding bikes, and walking on the trails that are literally EVERYWHERE! I have had a fun time unpacking and trying to decorate each room little by little. Our routine has definitely been thrown off after being in Utah for two weeks and up late every night, Kennedy is struggling to go to bed. Each night, after being tucked in by her three favorite pink blankets (in a certain order), she comes downstairs for one thing or another to avoid going to bed. One time it was to ask "Mom, why isn't Hannah Montana cool anymore?", another time she had gotten into our room and tangled Mike's stethescope in her hair so she came down with that hanging off the side of her face. Her excuses often begin with, "well mom, the problem is..." Although it can be funny we are at our wits end with her. We need our "no kid" time! Our neighborhood is cute and has little bunnies running free all over the place, at night we sometimes go on bunny hunts and find four or five with very little effort. Kennedy is a little afraid of them, along with potato bugs and flies- interesting! Our ward seems really nice, it is great that our good friends Justin and Lacey are in our ward and live less than a mile from our house. I have been watching their little boy Holden the past week and will watch him this week also...he is really cute and easy but having a four month old and a 9 month old is tiring and busy! Mike joined up with a group of Men from our ward and went mountain biking this past Saturday, he had a great time! They go every Saturday and so he is excited about that. He has started clinicals and they really threw him right into it. He has done a spinal, intubated a lot and does quite a few cases a day. He really likes the people he is working with, he said he is the token Mormon boy (the first that many of them have ever met) so they are afraid to say much around him to avoid offending him..he thinks it is pretty funny! The girls, Holden and I have gone to a really good farmers market, and our new library (which has a coffee shop and an adorable kids area) and to the store but I haven't ventured out much since I have the two babies. I have started a small herb collection that I am growing in our kitchen; mint, rosmary, chives and basil. I can't wait to use them in my cooking. Yesterday we drove out to Fort Collins, about an hour north of us, to visit my good friend Erin that I have known since seventh grade. Her little twins and Kennedy hit it off from the start and they had a great time playing together. We had a yummy dinner together and then chatted until we had to head back home. It is so nice to have an old friend close by, Erin is one of the coolest and most down to earth people I know..I absolutely love her. Now we know why they love Fort Collins so much, it is a beautiful city and seems like a fun place to raise a family. I will post more later but for now we are doing great. We enjoyed the Olympics we were able to watch and we are really enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery here in Colorado.

Is this thing on?

Today was a great day. Mike went mountain biking, to the apple store, mowed his moms lawn and cut down a tree; needless to say it was just me and the girls today and we had a really great time. This morning we went to Gardner Village and while I was trying on clothes at Motif (very cute clothes btw) Kennedy kept pulling the curtain back-lovely! Then she got to ride on the horses and get some treats at the candy store. We went home for naps and then ran a bunch of errands but the highlight was at night after playing some hide and seek with her uncle Tyler, Kennedy performed for us. I gathered in the living room with my mom, dad, mike and Ty and we all watched and listened as Kennedy performed (word for word with changing voices for different characters) half of the book Chrysanthemum. Halfway through as my legs were crossed in front of her she bent down and used my big toe as a microphone. I thought my mom was going to lose it...that Kennedy has great improvisational skills- something that is highly admired and respected among the Loosli family. With lines like "it scarcely fits on my nametag" and "she thought it was absolutely dreadful", we were all impressed and entertained. I love my little Kennedy! She is such a bright little firecracker with more energy and personality that I can keep up with most of the time but she is ALWAYS entertaining!

Two other happy notes for the week:
1. I love August! Give me tomatoes, cottage cheese and corn on the cob all month baby! Yum!
2. Mike and I found a plug in baby swing, no more buying four DD batteries once or twice a week. (Our kids sleep in their swings and it rocks)

Olympic Spirit

I just finished watching part of the Olympic opening ceremonies and commercials etc. I get so emotional about things like this..although I would get teary when we would say the pledge at school, so no suprise there. This is such an important Olmpics I feel, in a time when our world is filled with so much war, death, terror and destructive behavior it is so nice to see the world come together for such an event. I know I am so incredibly cheesy but I think it is appropriate. It was fun to see Andre Kirelenko (sp?) carry the flag for his country and other athletes that we see so often in tennis, basketball etc. walking with their countrymen. Seeing Yao Ming with the young boy he was walking with and hearing the touching story from the earthquake (look up the story if you didn't hear it) I was so moved. My friends often say they are afraid to send their kids to middle school/high school after hearing my horror stories and all that kids are getting involved in now but it was so nice to hear such a sweet story from such a young child. There really is so much good in the world found in every religion, skin color and nationality. I get so stressed thinking about our economy, the upcoming election and volatile parts of the world like the Middle East, Darfur and North Korea it is nice to be able to see something on television that gives us a little hope. I hope you enjoy watching the Olympics as much as I do. And just as a side note, ever since the Salt Lake Olympics I have to say that I cannot stand Bob Costas! He was so condescending, arrogant and obnoxious when he hosted the Salt Lake Olympics he made rude comments about mormons and Utah in general and was so annoying. So from now on I think we should call him Bob CostASS, I think that is the mature way to handle this.

Is nothing sacred?

There there Grandma and Grandpa Voorhies, go to sleep it's been a long day. Here are the Voorhies at the blessing luncheon. Sophie was blessed on Sunday and it happened to land on the fast Sunday after the Pioneer Trek/youth conference for our ward. Now I have nothing against pioneer treks, that is actually where Mike and I met, but the testimony meetings tend to be particularly long. For example when Mike and I went on trek our testimony meeting the following Sunday lasted the entire three hours. Mike and I were the only two in attendance that did not bear our testimonies..not that we are particularly proud of that but three hours folks come on! So when my entire family was sitting by eachother with four particularly ireverant boys and an Iphone in hand-BLAKE- it was rough. Needless to say my mom passed me the Iphone and told me to hang onto it until after sacrament. Is nothing sacred to these people.
Nice pose Uncle Ben! He's single ladies, a doctor and enjoy long walks on the beach, stimulating conversation...

Below we have my brother Kelly and his clone Parker.

Miss Sophie was blessed on Sunday and from what I could hear it was lovely. The microphone wasn't exactly placed directly in front of Mike's mouth so I heard bits and pieces but what I did hear was really sweet. She wore a blessing dress that is over 100 years old. It belonged to my great grandma and I wore it when I was blessed along with all my girl cousins on the Loosli side and their daughters (I will be blogging pics of the dress later).

Here we have Mr. Bennett and he is the son of our friends Shane and Jenna who are the greatest freinds that we have missed terribly since being in Texas. It isn't often that you find a couple that you like the wife and the husband and feel totally comfortable with both. We have traveled with these guys and feel like they are family, we love them so much! Jenna just happens to be a teacher and Shane is currently in nursing school, it's like we were match up on a compatibility screening on match.com or something. They are two of the funniest and nicest people we know. We are planning on Ken marrying Bennet and when we had Sophie Jenna's response was, "Yes! Another couple in the Voorhies/Gardner alliance." They have a little boy named Evan.

Ken and Bennet got into his costumes (do boys call it dress up?) and had a great time being super heroes.

Ken wanted to take the super hero play to another level. Be afraid Bennett, be very afraid.

"Mom I need to talk to you about something"

Kennedy is in absolute HEAVEN here in Utah with all of her cousins and friends. She even said in the car today, "Mom I am so happy we are in Utah." She had her cousin Shelton over the other day and they swam and had a great time. We even had a little anatomy lesson. Kennedy came to me and said "Mom I need to talk to you about something." I then asked her about what and as I was changing Shelton out into his swimsuit she pointed to his penis (sorry to frighten any of you that use we we or tallywacker but we are a penis/vagina sort of family) and said "I need to talk to you about that." So I expained that was what boys have and she was over it.

We got to go up to Solitude again and this time we brought Mckay and Syd and the kids swam while I sat by the pool and read/listened to my Ipod. They had a fun slide and the view was amazing. All was going well until Kennedy swallowed too much water and came to tell me and as she opened her mouth she threw up all over me. Nothing like olives and almonds regurgitated to really get the morning started. Unfortunately I did not bring a change of clothes and our car was the pick up car for the mountain bikers so I was in my throw up clothes for another 3 hours.
After swimming the kids got sorbet and then we went to the little pond and they played around for a bit. We then headed up to the condo and relaxed and watched a movie until the mountain biking crew got back.

Obsess much?

I realize I am overdoing it here but I just can't get over these pictures. The one below cracks me up because you can actually see Sophie's calf muscle on the right.

Our happy little girl.

The picture below is Kennedy in a nutshell, miss thing with attitude.

The above picture makes me giggle each time I look at it. "What the hell is this on my head" Sophie says to herself. I love these dresses and of course all the pictures with the girls in their twinner dresses are goofy faces but still cute.

The picture above and the rest are all Kennedy's own poses and dancing. What a little character.

I promise this is the last posting of their little photo shoot, they just turned out so cute I couldn't help myself. One more plug for my brother and that is it www.looslitaken.com