Strawberry Pony and Sundance

Lately Matisyn and Matt have had some fun together being rough and tumble. Her favorites are riding Daddy the pony and having Daddy help her walk on the ceiling. During this session, Matisyn said, "I love you my little Strawberry Pony." Isn't Strawberry a fitting name for such a strong, handsome Daddy like Matt?

Sometimes I turn around for a minute and Matisyn slips outside unclothed. She is big on being in as little as possible. If we're just around the house I'll usually just let her be free, but she isn't supposed to go outside like this. Not too long ago I realized too late that she had slipped out to the backyard, then through our gate that's connected with our backyard neighbors the Peppers and through their front gate. By the time I got out there she was having a great time playing with all the neighbor kids in the Peppers front lawn with only her underwear on! In this picture she slipped out to have some time on the Pepper's trampoline. We're going to miss them terribly when they move in a couple of weeks. Matisyn practically lives in their backyard and they don't care what she is wearing!


We were so excited to have Grandma Karen come for the weekend. It was a short visit, but we love any time we can get. Matisyn woke up from her nap on Friday when my mom was due to come and said, "Mommy, I want my Grandma NOW." She had been running down and looking out the window to see if she was here yet every few minutes. She even started checking the day before. She loves her Grandmas. She often tells me, "Mommy, my Grandmas told me to do it like this." They are usually very random things that I don't think her Grandmas taught her, but it's cute none the less!

My mom was able to stay for the weekend because she had spent the week in Las Vegas and down in Zion National Park with her best friend Books (her name is Diana, but she was my Dad's book keeper years ago, and he nicknamed her Books, and I've never known her as anything else! My mom and her have been friends since sixth grade, pretty amazing), Book's husband and her nephew. Here they are enjoying the pictures from their trip so far. On Friday night we cooked dinner for everyone, and then had peach crisp and homeade ice cream for dessert.


It is my mom's birthday tomorrow so we put candles in the crisp and sung Happy Birthday to her too. Matisyn loves helping with the candles.

Wow, can you tell who created the masterpiece in Matisyn's hair? I will give you a hint. It wasn't me! She was very proud.

So helpful at comforting the crying baby. Too bad Emilyn was happy before Matisyn grabbed her and flopped her over onto her tummy and bear hugged her. This is Matisyn's new thing to just walk over, pick up Emilyn and pull her over onto her tummy. We've had talks about it, but it doesn't seem to be sinking in. . . that's Matisyn for you though! She loves her sister so much, and just wants to be as close as possible to her all the time. I think Emilyn will turn out to be a tough little girl.



Isn't this precious? I looked over and Emilyn had put her hand up by her face. It looks like I posed her like this!

Grandma Karen snuggling with the girls


One day we went up to Sundance and rode the scenic lift up the mountain. Matt just walked around with Emilyn, and Grandma and I took Matisyn. I was worried about her, but she did amazing. She loved every minute of the ride, and kept saying, I'm so glad I wanted to come with you guys!






Hiking for just a few minutes up at the top. Matisyn led the way!





We finished the day with a very delicious dinner at the Grill Room. Dinner out is always an adventure with the girls. Thanks mom for taking us out, we loved having you here. Matisyn keeps saying, "I miss my Grandma so much." We both cried when she left!

I'll leave you with a thought from Matisyn. She saw a very hot pink motorcycle parked on the side of the rode as we were driving by and said, "Mommy, when I grow up I will ride a pretty pink motorcycle too." I'm not sure if she said this because she knows how much they scare me and I don't like them, or because her Daddy loves them so much!