We're still alive...

I promise! We're on vacation in Chicago this week and still in the process of putting our new house together. There will be pictures soon. As soon as I can see my carpet, I'll take pictures! :) Life is good. Everyone is healthy. Everyone is happy.

Blog Update - Done!

good news for the day...

i found my sharpie.

Some pictures of my monsters...

Okay, quit harassing me to post pictures of my kids! :)

This picture is from Easter at Ash & Dyl's house. It was also Zoey's birthday! They loved playing in the Dora tent.

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Princess Ainsley in her glass slippers throwing a temper tantrum... who knows why!

Hannah swinging at the park.

Hannah & Ainsley eating lunch in the Wilk on campus at BYU. It was so much fun to walk around campus with them! :)

After walking around campus (and doing some software shopping at the bookstore!), we went to Ash & Dyl's house to help them move and clean a bit. I think my kids made more messes than I cleaned, but it was good to see everyone one last time. (I still can't believe you ditched me, Ash...)

Ainsley wearing the shirt that Zoey gave her. Ainsley wet her diaper all the way through her outfit. So, she was running around Ashley's house in nothing but a diaper. Then Ashley gave her a shirt. Then she found a pair of leggings for her, too! Score! We ended up with a cute outfit.

random picture of ainsley

random picture of hannah... she is so pretty!
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Ainsley's 2nd Birthday Party!

Ainsley with her very favorite gift of the night... sidewalk chalk! Thanks, Chrissy!

Ainsley with her birthday cupcake

Ainsley licking her birthday cupcake

Hannah eating a birthday cupcake

Ainsley with her new cabbage patch doll from Uncle Greg & Aunt Leslie.

ainsley with her new dora dvd

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these are pictures of the house that we have a contract on... hopefully everything works out...

the front. yes, there is a fence around the front.

the backyard... it's huge and needs a lot of work. don't worry it looks better on the inside...

the completely redone kitchen... not my style, but still very nice
and do you see that little thing on the left? it's a DISHWASHER!

the view from the front door

ainsley playing in the dishwasher

the bathroom cabinets... much more my style...

the basement living room

one of the downstairs bedrooms

the downstairs bathroom... look familiar? it's EXACTLY the same as the upstairs bathroom

Ainsley sitting on the tree stump in the backyard

Coming in the side door. Down the stairs to get to the basement, or straight into the kitchen

upstairs family room

the front yard from the front door

ainsley put herself in timeout on the front stoop

hannah and ainsley playing computer games with their cute cousins!

a horse at one of the houses we looked at... not the one we are buying

ainsley handing me some flowers from the backyard at the new house

ainsley and thomas playing

ainsley being a superhero

It's {inter}National Scrapbook Weekend!

Check out my design blog for more fun...
http://meredithcardall.blogspot.com/2009/05/nsd-news.html

this month in photos... so far!

The month started out kinda crazy around here. Pretty much like every other month! We really enjoyed watching General Conference. BUT, starting Friday Ainsley had a 104.5 degree temperature. Not good. She didn't have any other symptoms at all. Just a really high fever all weekend. She went down for a nap on Monday afternoon with a nap and woke up totally fine. We never did find out was wrong with her and no one else got sick. We were very blessed!

Poor little munchkin just wanted to sleep on her Dora couch. She was too exhausted to climb on her bunkbed!

Poor Hannah was bored out of her skull. So, I grabbed her some cookies and frosting at the grocery store. That kept her happy for hours!

Hannah and I also had a cooking night one evening. We made eggrolls. Hannah begged to make them. She took one bite of the finished product and declared that she doesn't like eggrolls. More for me!

We finally had some warm weather and the kids were so excited to get out and enjoy the warm weather.

Hannah loves riding her scooter. Thanks, Grandma!

After riding bikes, we headed over to the park to go down the slides.

Then we went back to the house and found the bubbles.

They made me blow bubbles for them for a while. Then I got winded and gave the bubles to Hannah. She blew bubbles for a while.

Then Ainsley wanted to try.

She ate more bubbles than blew.

Hannah brought in a dandelion (and made me SNEEZE all night). She kept smelling it. Her entire nose was YELLOW by the end of the night.

*****
Chrissy called us Thursday night and asked if we wanted to go to the zoo. So, bright and early Friday morning we got up and got ready. The kids were so anxious about going to the zoo, we decided to go out and play at the park while we were waiting for Chrissy. My kids love that park. It's the one thing the kids are going to miss the most about living here, I think.

some of the cousins posing for a picture

my kids don't like merry-go-rounds. I put them both on animals to ride. They both freaked out. Yes, even Hannah who has ridden them MANY times alone. So, lucky Mom got to sit on the merry-go-round bench with the kids. I don't love merry-go-rounds either. I think we'll skip this part of the zoo experience from now on.

Hannah, excited to be at the zoo, or just out of the house...

Hannah & Carter being monkeys waiting for the other kids to come out of the bathroom.

Some of the cousins in the rhino cave. They have a button you can push to smell the rhino poo. Lovely...

Hannah was completely enthralled with the giraffe's long tongue. So she showed me how long her tongue is!

Ainsley just wanted out of her stroller.

Hannah and a cousin looking at the penguins... I think.

Hannah was being a tiger! I think she hit a growthspurt. All of her jeans are an inch or two too short and apparently so are her shirts... Fun!

We took a picnic lunch with us. Ainsley was so excited to be out of her stroller. And that kid LOVES cheese. She saw her lunch and just started laughing.

Ainsley wanted to eat like an animal. She is going through a puppy phase right now where she is constantly pretending to be a puppy.

And of course, Hannah wanted to try, too!

After lunch, Ainsley finally got out of her stroller. I made her wear the puppy backpack/leash. She loved seeing the monkeys.

Hannah loved the reptile house. It was hot and smelled like urine.

Ainsley did NOT want to wear her backpack anymore. I gave her the choice of wearing the backpack and walking OR sitting back in the stroller. She chose the stroller!

Hannah loves to pose like a "supermodel". Are little girls just born with that desire? I have no clue where she gets this stuff. Maybe her girl cousins?

*****
After we got home from the zoo, the girls wanted to play at the park for a few minutes. They were chasing each other in circles and all around the park. They kept racing to climb up to the slide. Ainsley was laughing uncontrollably and Hannah kept telling me that she was too fast for me to take a picture of her. Goofy little monkeys!

*****
We had a flashlight easter egg hunt at Aunt Aimee's house on Friday night. Almost the entire family was there and it was a lot of fun! There were lots of cupcakes and candy so the girls had the time of their lives!

The kids were playing some form of "one potato, two potato" with their feet. Hannah LOVES playing games with her cousins!

Ever since the incident with the bead in her nose, Ainsley has been addicted to flashlights. She absolutely loves them and is never allowed to play with them. So she was soooo excited to be turned loose with a flashlight all to herself!

Hannah was really excited about the flashlight, too! She was so excited about the egg hunt. My kids were the last ones outside hunting for eggs.

Hannah found some of the eggs that the other kids missed!

Ainsley was showing me her flashlight.

Grandma Shelly helped Hannah & Liv sort through their eggs.

Ainsley was so sad that the egg hunt was over. So, she went and sat on the back doorstep and pouted. It was hilarious. She is such a drama queen!

*****
These are the pictures from our Easter Egg Coloring earlier tonight. The girls had so much fun coloring eggs!

Hannah likes to pretend like the egg holder is a wrench and she likes to look through it like eyeglasses. Crazy little kiddo!

Isn't my little family cute? I love them so much!

Ainsley was sooooo happy to be coloring eggs!

She wanted to show us all her egg!

No more eggs, Ainsley. Sorry. She was so upset. She actually climbed up on the counter to try to get to the cracked eggs that we didn't color. Thomas told her no and that she needed to get down off the counter.

My poor little baby was completely heartbroken...

Until Daddy told her that she could have a piece of chocolate... stinker!

My little cuties just thought that their eggs were the most beautiful creations in the entire world. And they were!

Hannah was sooooo excited to see that the egg she used the clear crayon on really did work!

Can I just say...

that I absolutely LOVE my new camera??? Although, it does capture my messy house more. Ignore the crumbs on the carpet or I am never posting pictures again (Ruthie!).

*****

Ainsley & Hannah wrestling. Ainsley thought it was hilarious when Hannah caught her and tackled her.

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Yes, Ainsley put the "hat" on her own head. She is just the silliest little baby in the world. I have no idea where she gets her crazy ideas! But she sure makes us laugh. Hannah loves to sit and laugh at Ainsley! And then Ainsley starts laughing. It's fun! Ignore the snotty noses, we were all sick.

Hannah is doing ballet for us.

And then Ainsley decided to join in. Her favorite part is yelling "BALLET" at the top of her lungs and then bowing! Hannah's ballet is quite beautiful. And hopefully we'll get her in dance lessons soon.

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Ainsley's new favorite place to sleep is on Hannah's top bunk. It doesn't matter where we put her to sleep or even if we move her after she falls asleep, she always ends up back on Hannah's bed. They are so cute together! It's so fun to watch them play together and how much Ainsley loves her big sister. Hannah is such a good sport. Even when she gets frustrated she always says, "Mom, I'm a CTR now so I'll let her play with my toys." My Hannah is so sweet!

This is the house we didn't get. It's cute, huh?! Darn seller's agent didn't bother telling us that there were other people interested in the house... Not impressed with that guy.

This is another of the houses we are looking at. It's soooooo cute! Jim went with us to look at the house. It doesn't have any appliances and it has an unfinished basement. But it has a huge master suite and it has blinds. BIG plus right there!

This is the upstairs.

This is the kitchen/family room area.

These are my cute girlies having fun running and playing in the empty house. They love house hunting. They have four times the house to run and play!

Thomas tried to get Ainsley to jump on the trampoline in the backyard. She wasn't too excited about it. She was excited to jump back in her dad's arms! I promise, I put a bow in her hair everyday. She pulls it right out. AND the kid hit a growth spurt and outgrew all her shoes. I have to get the next size out of the basement tomorrow.

I really love my camera! It's so much fun to use. I love the sound of the motor. Just snapping a photo makes me smile! AND I have a cute camera strap cover thanks to Dottie! Thanks, DottieLou! :) I have to figure out how to get a picture of it without taking it off.

little house update...

We were outbid on our house in Eagle Mountain. :( BUT, we went and looked at another house out there that we really like. I actually prefer it to the house we didn't get. It's just 8 minutes further out. BUT we came home and looked at a bunch more houses online and sent our realtor about 15 more houses... sorry, Kim! :) Thomas wants to look at some fixer-upper houses in Sandy, too. They're not pretty. At all. But they're close. So we'll see if anything come of these. Our poor realtor, she's completely amazing and extremely patient! So, if anyone is looking for a house in Utah let me know and I'll send you her email!

I am getting ready to move my photos to computer from my camera... I'll post some pics in a bit.

Life update...

Yep, still in school. I should be studying right now, but I wanted to update my blog with the Living For Eden benefit. Scroll down to the next post to see it. Kids are still kids. They are absolutely adorable and they absolutely make me want to pull my hair out on a daily basis! :) Ainsley is almost two and is climbing everywhere. She climbs up on Hannah's top bunk every night and sleeps up there. Hannah hates it because Ainsley kicks her and is all over the place. So we tried moving her after she fell asleep. Well, she woke up in the middle of the night and just climbed up there anyway. Little stinker! Hannah is almost five... yep, five! She is doing fine. She is being stubborn about not wanting to read. We're working on it, though. She will be starting school in the fall and she is really excited. She got the deferment to go to a different school in our school district, but hopefully she won't need it!

We put an offer in on a house in Eagle Mountain earlier this week. It's absolutely adorable and it's HUGE. Perfect for our family! For those of you who know us, you know that Thomas complains on a daily basis that we have too much stuff and he hates it. Well, in that house, we would have at least three empty rooms... completely empty rooms! NICE! Hopefully we will find out sometime this week if the bank accepts our offer.

Not much else going on other than that. If anyone wants to help us pack or move tons of stuff to a new house, any and all help will be welcomed! Anyone have a good carpet cleaner or air duct cleaner that they want to recommend? I better go study...

Living for Eden

If you are a lover of local music and you live in the Utah area, be sure to check out the Living For Eden musical benefit. The proceeds from the silent auction and benefit concert go to benefit Paul Cardall (my cousin-in-law) and his family. I have a link to the benefit on my sidebar. You can go there to purchase tickets and to read his story. Keep Paul & his family in your prayers. I know it makes me proud to hear Hannah ask Heavenly Father to bless "Cousin Paul" in every prayer she says. She's never met Paul. But she understands how important it is to ask Heavenly Father to help Paul get a new heart.

Rough Day at the Crandalls!

Why is it that things are always chaotic and stressful on the days I need it to not be chaotic and stressful?

This morning I awoke to the wonderful smell of poo. Ainsley had pooped in her diaper and was covered in it from the waist down. Mercifully, the poo was contained inside the pajamas. So, I had to put her in the bathtub, strip her down, clean her off, wash out her clothes, scrub the bathtub and then bathe her. I had to use Thomas' Old Spice Extra Tough Body Wash... that's not good for the eczema!

Then, Ainsley finally went down for a nap and remember how I said that Hannah wasn't sick... well, she's sick now. And whiny. So I banished her to my room so that I could study. I heard the tv come on in my room and it was LOUD and it was STATIC. I didn't want it to wake up Ainsley so I jumped up, pushed open my bedroom door and smacked Hannah in the face with the doorknob. Busted her bottom lip open. Just a tiny bit. But she's really mad at me. She's fine. She is watching a movie and playing computer games. And yes, her yelling at me that I am the meanest mom ever DID wake Ainsley up. So, no study time for Mommy and I now have TWO whiny little munchkins! :) I have a feeling this midterm is not going to go so well...