Genetics

I have vivid memories of watching LDS General Conference while growing up. Most of those memories involve eating cinnamon rolls, seeing men in suits on the screen (and each of them talking for what felt like several hours at least), and having my dad tickle my back. When I was young, we had to go to the church and watch the conference broadcast there. So I would stretch out on the bench, lay in my dad's lap and relax while he tirelessly tickled my back.

I can say with a surety that Cyrena's memories are going to be the same as mine. The girl inherited my love and addiction for having her back tickled by her dad. Luckily I married a man who can meet the demands of both wife and daughter.

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to catch this ritual in action so Cyrena's memories can be just as vivid as mine are. I idolized (and still do) my dad. He was always there to calm my fears, let me dance on his feet, tickle my back, rub my legs when they were growing, and tell me amazing bedtime stories. Cyrena is lucky to have a dad to idolize too.

Here she is telling David to look at the camera and keep his eyes open when I take the picture (he has problems with that). Oh she makes me laugh!

Always laughing together

Now she's trying to turn his head.....

See how she looks at him so adoringly? It's enough to make any dad spend hours tickling his daughter's back. I can't wait to see if Natalie is predisposed to back tickling as well.

And by the way we really did listen to the prophet.
We just had to take a little break for memories.....
.....and some tasty cinnamon rolls.
I think he would approve.

{Initiation}

If you want to be daddy's little girl you've got to love dirt. David spends a lot of time in his yard and garden. Cyrena has been David's sidekick in the yard since she was even the tiniest bit mobile. She is happiest when working with him outside.

Natalie loves being outside and since the weather has cooled down a bit she's been joining her dad and his sidekick. We learned very quickly that the girl LOVES dirt. She loves to eat it, throw it, swim in it, and let it run through her fingers. She especially loves the flower pots that are flowerless right now! Then.....we showed her the garden....and it was love at first sight. So David stripped her down and let her have at it.

D-backs

Last Saturday we took the girls to a Diamondbacks game. It was Natalie's first baseball game and she was so entertained. Those of you that know her well know she's loud and loves to scream (happily) so every time the crowd cheered, she joined right in with a high-pitched scream and clapped clapped clapped! :) Cyrena loves sitting by her dad and watching sports but she was mostly interested in what food we packed.

See that grubby little hand in a bag of tortilla chips?

Luckily there are some geniuses who run the stadium and they put in a kids play place up on the top deck. So we ditched dad for awhile and the girls and I went to play. For the 3+ area only the kids are allowed in, no parents. I couldn't believe that Cyrena went in without me. She's not super shy, but she's pretty cautious so I was surprised. Natalie and I watched her (actually Natalie squealed and screamed every time she got a glimpse of her sister).

When the time limit was reached, we went and played in the 'baby area' where Natalie crawled around everywhere and was not afraid of anything. She couldn't have cared less where I was, she just played. 2 year old girls have a thing for Natalie. She was accosted a few times by them wanting to pull on her, hug her, etc.

Cyrena the photographer at work

SO happy. Little did I know she had 'roseola' at the time...oops, I thought she was just teething.

There was this one kid (I assume 2 1/2) that kept coming up to people, bumping them with his chest/tummy and then falling over backward like they pushed him. His mom kept saying..."Dylan, you need to watch where you're going....hahaha" Seriously? Did she not see that he did this to every single kid in the area??? So right when we were about to go, he did it again to this other child and when Dylan fell over backward he landed right by Natalie. She was not about to let this opportunity slip through her fingers so she reached right over and pulled a handful of his hair. The following video is of the aftermath of that encounter....the standoff......then him running to tell his mom that a baby pulled his hair. They left after that. Too funny.

p.s. the Diamondbacks lost...that much I know.

I can almost FEEL it

I've been getting teeny, tiny glimpses of Fall weather around here. I'm itching for those cool mornings and evenings. We were talking about the park and I said soon enough we'll be at the park ALL the time! And I know Natalie's going to love that. The girl starts flapping as soon as she sees us opening a door to outside. I feel bad for her.

The other night, David and Cyrena washed the car then they did some racing in our shared driveway (Cyrena on her bike and David pushing Natalie in the stroller). The girls could not have been happier and I loved watching and knowing that there are MANY MANY more evenings like this to come.

I've been wanting to take a picture like this to show family how full and wavy her hair is getting!

And this last pic is just for fun. David loves when we come up with creative dinners at the last minute ('cause that's how we roll a lot of times). Anyway, there is this awesome local (as in the Phoenix valley) restaurant called Meatballz which David LOVES. He gets to eat there often for work. One of his favorite meals is the Chicken Salad Platter. So we made a similar dish. We made chicken salad then served it on a bed of lettuce with tomatoes and avocado with a side of cheese (string cheese..hehe). We dipped bites into Italian dressing. OH MY, it was tasty and so beautiful David took a picture. And the best part of all was that everything in it was diet friendly so I DUG in! Obviously we're missing parts of the actual salad they serve at Meatballz but we got the gist with what we had on hand!

Apple Pickin'

There are Fruit Orchards that are somewhat, kind of on the way home from our campout. And this last weekend was the beginning of U-Pick. So on the way home we decided to stop in and pick some apples!

Little did we know it was about a 1/2 hour drive off the highway through rutted, unkept dirt roads which were so narrow you had to pull over to let other cars pass by on their way out. And I forgot to mention it was really RAINY as well so therefore, lots of mud!

FINALLY we got to the ranch so we bundled the kids up and went to pick! We saw some ward members there which was fun. It was cool, we all had a good time. It reminded me of picking apples in my backyard growing up. We only picked about 3 lbs because Cyrena needed to use the restroom BADLY. We made our way back up to the front and found an outhouse for her. When I opened the door to the outhouse, Cyrena and I could hardly see the toilet seat because it was covered with black FLIES. I was disgusted and she started crying and didn't want to go the bathroom, but I knew her bladder was about to burst. So I told her to close her mouth really tight and I just held her about a foot over the seat so she could go. It was NOT fun. But she was so brave.

When we got in the car I immediately bit into an apple (they're pesticide free) and it tasted heavenly! I gave Cyrena one to try as well. She wasn't sure she liked yellow apples but she had some bites. I want to go back to the ranch next year for sure!

p.s. Cyrena was a little confused because we always tell her that apples grow in Washington. She was so excited to see an apple tree in Arizona!!

In the Forest

Cyrena was SO happy to go camping in the 'forest' A fun time was had by all. It was probably the most relaxing ward campout we've ever been to since there were only about 4 families! Here are some of the highlights:

Can't get between Cyrena and her s'mores. It's serious business.

I love me some cute girls!

Cyrena enjoys taking pictures, this is me about to put on 'my face'

While the guys finished getting things packed up, I sat down with Natalie. Within minutes of watching David and Ethan, she fell fast asleep on me. Camping wore her out!

Natalie's scrunchy face. All she wanted to do was eat rocks, bugs, pretty much anything she could pick up.

We had so much fun camping and visiting with other ward members. I loved just sitting and relaxing by the fire. It was so nice to get out of the heat. The weather was perfect, a little overcast then we got a slight sprinkle at bedtime.

The most memorable moment for me was right after we got into bed I heard some mysterious rustling outside. I thought maybe the Bluths were letting their dog out for a minute, but I didn't see any movement by their trailer. Pretty soon, my questions were answered as I saw a HUGE skunk walk straight toward our tent. I quickly made David check it out. It walked right by us and went on its merry way. It was kind of cool and David and I had a hard time settling into sleep after that.

I have so many books!!

ABC & 123: A Learning Cooperative is hosting a children's giveaway sponsored by AllChildrensFurniture.com, who carries everything from kids chairs to toys.Giveaway ends September 6th! There is an awesome book display shelf I would love!