Laila's 1st Brithday!

My computer is fixed, I have unpacked all the boxes from the move, look out I am ready to blog!
I have so much to blog about I am a little overwhelmed and I don't quite know where to begin.

The most important event that has happened was Laila's first birthday. She was the luckiest lady and got to celebrate for a few days (mostly because her dad was going to be out of town for her birthday). The first celebration was a party at the pool.

all of Laila's friends that came to celebrate with her.

Laila's first cupcake was thoroughly enjoyed!

She wants more cupcake.

Laila's only birthday picture with her dad in it.

On Sunday we had a birthday dinner for Laila so she could open presents and do the customary "eating of the cake"

After dinner Laila was ready for her cake.

Could it get any better then diving into her very own chocolate cake?!?!

PRESENTS!!

It was so fun to see Laila finally old enough to open and get excited for presents. It was a rude awakening for Aria that she was no longer able to open and play with Laila's gifts. The present that was cause of a lot of sibling contention was a baby doll from Grandma Ruthie. As soon as the doll was released from her box all HECK broke loose. You can see the look of pure TERROR in Laila's face.
After quite a spectacle from my children, Laila cuddled, kissed and fed her baby.
My baby is getting so big!

lack of posts

Hello! My name is Aleena and I am addicted to blogs. 

My computer has been broken for over a week now and feel like I have no idea what is going on in the world.   I have no idea what anyone is doing, everyone is growing up without me.  I got my hands on a computer this morning and got my fix by visiting everyones blogs as fast as I could.  

One the flip side, this last week has been a shocking revelation to how much time I spend on the computer I am stymied by how much more I am accomplishing in the day.  

My name is Aleena and I am a recovering blog addict.  See you when I get my computer. 

ADIOS!

Today is a very happy and a very sad day. My little brother Douglas left for the MTC. I have had such mixed emotions about him leaving because I am so proud of his decision to spread the happy news of the gospel but it will be a full 4 years until our family is together again (I have another little brother that will overlap with Doug).

Doug will never read this but I want the world to know how awesome my little brother is. He has always been such a wonderful example to me in his words and actions, he has ALWAYS wanted to do what is right. I often feel so blessed that he is my little brother I have really enjoyed watching him and Russell grow up into really good men. I am so excited for this chapter of his life, I know that he will be an exceptional missionary!


This is the waterfall that my dad and brothers built in the backyard. This waterfall has been a work in progress for 10 years. After Doug received his mission call he said that all he wanted before he left on his mission was to complete the waterfall. The goal was set for the day he gave his farewell talk in church. When I arrived at my parents house on Thursday, 3 days before the goal, the waterfall was still not very close to being completed.


We like to call this story the miracle of the waterfall, because the whole family got involved in making sure that the waterfall was completed by the farewell. The boys worked on it from 7:00am to midnight on Saturday. Sunday morning an hour before church started we turned it on for the first time. It was interesting how emotional it was. It must have been the fact that my dad and Doug have been working on it for 10 years and it was finally done.

Last family picture for a while.

lovey Laila

Laila is at a really fun stage in life. She is trying to talk, walk, and play with the "big" kids. She is getting so big! Laila is a super lovey kid, she loves to snuggle, kiss and hug.

Big hug

Brady is not quite sure why she is licking his face.

I love this little lady so much. I have enjoyed watching her grow up. I am way more relaxed about it the second time around.

matchy matchy pink cubed

While visiting Carmel the ladies hit the outlet malls to find some great deals, and we did! Becky and I found the cutest outfits and couldn't resist the chance to have the girls match!

They loved matching

Twins

Summer Travels

We have had very fun few weeks. We have been from Las Vegas to Utah to Carmel California to Las Vegas to Bryce Canyon to St. George back to Las Vegas. The next few posts are of our adventures.


We went to Carmel California to Ryan McGiven's Grandma's house. It is spectacular. The house is on the 14th green of the famous Pebble Beach golf course. It was so awesome. We went with Ryan and Sarah McGiven and their boys, our cousins Nina and Kyle and their boys and our friends Alex and Becky Stoddard and their girls. We did some very fun things, get ready for some picture overload!

I had to post this picture of my favorite golfer. We would sit outside and watch the golfers, it was so relaxing and at times very entertaining (see below).

We had a blast playing at Pebble Beach. The weather wasn't ideal for a beach vacation but the kids were not deterred. Here are Aria and Griffin playing, we wonder if we ever have a boy if this is what he will look like.

Running away from the freezing cold water.

Laila loved the beach, she especially loved eating the sand. Yummy!

We had so much fun at Monterrey Pier watching the Sea Lions and birds. Easton wanted to get in the water and swim with the gross Sea Lions.

We were with the McGiven's night and day for 2 weeks. We feel so lucky that they are our family, we love you guys!

Aria developed some what of a crush on her second cousin Carter. I found them hugging and snuggling a few times on this trip.

San Francisco and Oakland

One of the last days of our trip we decided to make a trip to San Francisco with the kids. It was 58 degrees and wind gusts of 40 mph (I don't know if this is true, but that is what it seemed). Despite the weather we had a wonderful time. We saw some of the strangest people concentrated in one place. I guess that is what you get in large cities.

You can see Alcatraz in the background. Geoff told Aria that is where they put the bad guys so they couldn't get out and the whole day she kept talking about the bad guys swimming.

We bought a peach at the farmers market, it was the largest, juiciest, sweetest peach I have ever tasted.

Aria loves her dad so much! It was the best vacation because she had him all to herself.

The kids found a fountain that had warm water. It took all we had to keep them from jumping in.

You can't go to San Francisco without seeing a few silver men. This was the WORST silver man in the history of silver men. He wasn't even silver and he was really bad!

These guys were the real deal. They were very entertaining to watch. Easton was so brave and gave them some money.

We visited Ghirardelli square where we got some of the BEST hot chocolate I have ever tasted. It was so delicious and it warmed up our frozen bodies.


After San Francisco we went across the bridge to Oakland for the A's vs Giants baseball game. It was so much fun. I was a little worried because Geoff told Ari that we were going to a baseball game a week before we actually went. She asked about the baseball game every day so I thought it might be anticlimactic. Good news, Aria LOVED it. It actually was one of the funnest games that I have ever been to. Nothing better then a good rivalry game.

Aria loved to chant "let's go Oakland" and still chants it weeks later.

Birthdays, Seven Peaks, and makeup

We were able to celebrate my brother Doug and my niece Olivia's birthdays while we were visiting. Last year we had season tickets to Seven Peaks and I had forgotten how much I love it. It was so much fun! I was able to go on a few rides with Aria. Even Laila went on a few rides with me, I don't think she liked it as much as Aria.

It was Doug's 19th birthday so he got lots of Missionary stuff. Nothing more exciting then getting suits, shirts, journals, belts, and scriptures for your birthday!

Olivia received lots of fun toys and even one of her front teeth is coming in.

Later that day Aria found Kelsey's makeup and gave herself a makeover. How do you think she did? I am going to have to teach her how to aim, sad news it that I don't do much better!

Hogle Zoo

While in Utah we took advantage of going to the zoo in 90 degree weather instead of 110 degrees. It was Laila's first time at the zoo and I don't think she is old enough to really care. The rest of us had so much fun!

We are so glad that Geoff could be the only man with all of the ladies and kids.

Aria LOVES her aunties Abbey and Kelsey

Aria is so happy to be with Kylee and Nick. She loves them so much and asks to see them everyday!

Thank you to Grandma Joeen for taking all of us to the zoo!

The Romantic Date!

While we were in Utah Jeff Gardner got an inkling to be romantic for his wife and I benefited. Geoff told me that we were going somewhere but was very secretive about who and where we were going. We picked up the Gardner's and Stoddard's and we ended up going to Olive Garden where were greeted by a dozen red roses at our place settings.

Because Jeff was being romantic he started telling us his favorite memories of Lindsay, I think it started out as a joke but it ended up being really fun and I had fun remembering all the fun times that I have had these wonderful ladies. Later we rode bikes up the canyon and had very romantic sparkling grape juice. It was a very fun surprise.

Why did Jeff Gardner decide to be romantic for his wife, you ask? We can all thank reality TV. He has been watching the Bachelorette and realized that he wanted to be more romantic. Thanks Jeff for the inspiration and thank you to my sweet Geoff who is always up for a surprise. I love you!

Wasatch Back Relay!

We have had the best couple of weeks. We have been visiting Grandparents, running races, and driving to California. I thought I would start by bragging about my husband.

Geoff participated in the Wasatch Back Relay, a relay race with 12 team members that goes from Logan to Park City. Geoff's cousin and uncle are actually the founders of the race and have done an incredible job. The first year I think they had 30 teams and this year, 5 years later, they had 579 teams!

Geoff is not a runner and didn't really have time to train for the race but he did it. and their team did really well! They came in 101 overall. It was so inspiring I might not be such a wimp next year and run!

Not my best day.

Yesterday Aria told me that I looked "weird" 4 times.
Then she told me that dinner was "disgusting".
Must not have been my best day.

Booster seats.

This post is for all those mom with bigger kids. What is the better booster seat? Does it matter? What do you like?

I love to read.

I just finished reading these books. They are really cute books I would highly recommend them.

Opposites attract

They say that "opposites attract", I think they (who ever they are) are right. Aria and Zach are best friends and they are COMPLETELY opposite. Hair, eyes, mouth, nose, all opposite. I just recently realized they have one more opposite. Aria has what the Hill family fondly refers to as the "Hill bum". Her "cheeks" are never covered and her swimming suit and underwear are always riding up her little cracker.





Now Zach has the opposite problem. He has what the Johansen family fondly refers to as the "Johansen bum", which means NO bum. This is why we often see him sporting the plumber look.

So in the words of Paula Abdul, "And you know--it ain't fiction, just a natural fact, we come
together cuz opposites attract".