What a night!

Last night (around 2:30 a.m.) Millie woke up with a scream and started crying. When I went to get her she was terrified and told me that she "heard the wicked witch." (I guess she won't be watching Snow White again for a while.) After calming her down, I put her back in bed. But minutes later the smoke detector started beeping with a low battery and scared her again. So Mark got her and put her in our bed, and then the noise woke up Ivy, so Mark brought her to me as well, while he went and took down the smoke detector and took out the battery then he got back in bed with us. Millie was really cute and snugly and kept saying the cutest things (of which I can't remember because of the hour). I remember telling her that she was cute and she replied "I know I'm cute." Then Millie decided she was hungry so Mark took her down to the kitchen for "breakfast." It was pretty funny. I think we were all finally back to sleep by 4 a.m. What a night!

Baby Gunnell

Mark's sister Julia and her husband Ryan had their first baby over the weekend! Cooper Ryan Gunnell was born in Georgia at 12:08 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 19. He weighed 8 lbs. 8 ounces and was 21 1/4 inches long.

Grandma Barbara flew out to help. She says Cooper has Julia's nose and lips, and has big hands! I assume those are from Ryan.

Mom and baby are home and doing well. Congratulations you guys. Cooper looks so precious! I can't wait to meet him!

Apple Days

So while Mark was riding his bike to Jackson Hole, I was trying to enjoy the weekend's festivities in town. I took the girls to Apple Days here in River Heights. It would have been a lot more fun if Mark had been here to help, but we made the most of it without him.Millie enjoyed getting candy at the parade, but she thought she had to eat each piece as she picked it up. She didn't grasp the concept of collecting it for later.

Hailey is our next-door-neighbor and such a good friend to Millie.

Here is River Heights City float and royalty. I help with the Miss River Heights pageant each spring, so it's fun to see the girls out and about during the summer. I did not, however, help with the float, so it's not my fault the girls' dresses don't match the magic carpet :)

At the park they had a number of festivities including pony rides. This pony's name was Sunshine. She/he had a bit of an attitude . . . perfect for Millie.

As you can see, Millie rides like a pro. That's because this is her third pony ride of the summer, but unfortunately the first one we actually got a picture of.

Apart from the tantrums and the head/backaches of taking two kids to a festival by myself, I tried to have a good time. I thoroughly enjoyed a caramel apple and two bites of Millie's sugar cookie . . . mmm.

My handsome husband

Last weekend Mark participated in LOTOJA — a 206-mile (331.5 kilometers) bike race from Logan, UT to Jackson Hole, WY. This was his fourth year doing the ride and his fastest yet! He finished in 10 hours and 20 minutes, taking first in his category. I am so proud of him.
Here are a couple shots of him at home before the race. He still has sleepy eyes. But doesn't he look great in spandex?! :) LOL.

Mark wanted to keep warm before the ride but didn't want to wear a jacket during the race, so he cut this sweatshirt up the back so he could remove it at the starting line without having to take his helmet off. He's a thinker! :)

I'm so glad Mark has found a sport that he enjoys. He played soccer and football in high school but when he got home from his mission he blew out his knee playing soccer. And since he doesn't want to repeat knee surgery, he refuses to play any high impact sports. So biking is a perfect fit.

This year Mark rode with his brother Jared who placed second. To see more pictures visit Jared and Katie's web page by clicking here. Enjoy!

Sisters

My greatest wish for my girls is that they will grow to be best friends.
I read somewhere that siblings are part of each others' lives far longer than any other family member. So in my opinion, if they are going to spend that much time together, they had better love each other.

Millie hates this shirt, but only because I like it. Ivy's shirt was Millie's. It says "Cutie Milly" on it. I have a fetish for purchasing things (usually books) with my girls' names on them.

They both look silly in this one. Ivy isn't the most photogenic baby. I usually only show you the good ones :)

I find it funny that when you ask children to feign affection you can always tell it's artificial. They seriously need to work on their acting skills.

And here you can tell it's genuine. True, they don't always get along . . . but they have their moments.

Millie's 3

Millie's birthday was in July. (I'm a little slow getting this up, I know.) She had a princess party. Here the little princesses are listening to the story of Sleeping Beauty, read by yours truly :)
Mark usually makes the birthday cakes around here but this year he was too busy building Millie's present -- a big girl bed (which I just realized I don't have a picture of!). Anyway, I thought I did pretty good with the cake. If I do say so myself.

With so many princesses in attendance, Millie got a ton of gifts. So many in fact, that I had to stash some in a closet and divvy them out slowly. There's still one more in there.

It's hard to believe my baby's three! Wow, it goes by so quickly.

Slow blogging

Enough with the nostalgia! I'm sick of waiting to get my film developed. I want a digital camera! Hopefully one day it will make it to the top of my list of wants and I'll actually get one. Until then . . . the blogging will be slow.
I did actually use up my roll of film this weekend, but I'm waiting until Wednesday to develop it. (Macey's photo lab has a special on Wednesdays). So be sure to check back this weekend. But as I hate to disappoint, I do have photos to post today. They are a year old, but they were well worth the wait.
One of my best-est girlfriends from high school (a foreign exchange student from Norway) came to visit me last summer. And being 5-months pregnant at the time, I completely forgot to take a single picture during her stay! Luckily, she took lots and I just got them in the mail this week! Hurrah! So without further adieu, here are some of my favorites:

Maria Bergane (pronounced bear-gannah). Naturally a platinum blond, but beautiful as a brunette as well and such a sweetheart!
During Maria's stay, we spent a day in Bear Lake. Visiting the Minnatonka Cave, the beach and Pickleville Playhouse. Left to right: Millie, Ivy :) and me.

I love these pictures of Millie. She's changed so much in the past year.

Isn't she pretty?

I wonder how this would look in black and white?

Mommy and Millie . . . poor Ivy. I have no idea how I was able to bend over like that with her in there.

Here we are visiting Manti High School. It brought back a lot of memories. And getting these photos in the mail brought back even more wonderful memories. Thanks-a-million Maria! Hope you visit again soon!