A private phone call to Elmo

Lily: Mom, I'm going to make a phone call, so don't listen to it, or follow me to my room.

She learned to run to her room and shut the door while she talks on the phone by watching her silly sister Ella.

Lily: Hello. Am I talking to Elmo? Yes. Hi, my name is Lily Jones. I wanted to tell you that I am Lily Jones and not Barbie. Even though I look like Barbie, I am Lily Jones.
Goodbye.

I really didn't follow her, she just has a loud voice.

Important & cute

Lily: mom, I need to tell you something important and cute.
Me: what is it?
Lily: we should go to Lizzleeland.

I don't know about important, but it was defiantly cute!

Lily: dad, I need to tell you something important and cute & even cuter.
Tyler: okay.
Lily: let's go to Target in 6 days.

3 year old kids are funny

Me: Put this away please. Lily: I can't. Me: Why? Lily: Because I'm a bad helper. I very bad helper.

Lily crying hysterically: Mom, dad won't share his big machine for work with me.

I told my kids we might go to Disneyland this year. Lily: I don't want to go to Disneyland. Me: What do you want to do? Lily: I want to go on a clothing shopping spree.

Horse Lessons

Ella is off track & we haven't done anything fun. I always feel guilty when she's off track and I spend the whole time working. I saw a Groupon for an hour private horseback riding lesson so I signed her up in order to help ease my guilt. Ella has been asking to take riding lessons for a while now. She’d prefer Catback to Horseback, but I think she really enjoyed riding the horse tonight.


She groomed the horse, helped saddle it up, she even took off on a gallop. Now we are left with just one problem. She thinks she's going to take lessons full time. Maybe I'll have to help her set up her own Etsy shop so she can afford them.

2nd Grade

I can't believe Ella is in 2nd grade today! She had a fun summer (although it was only 3 weeks long) thanks to my mom for watching her every day that I had to work, and thanks to Tyler for working more than extra-super-duper hard the past 3 weeks so that I could take a few breaks and hang out with her.

Silly Kids

Ella: Mom, can you sign me up for horseback riding lessons? Unless you can find catback riding lessons. If they have catback riding lessons, then I want to do that instead of riding a horse.

Lily: Mom, can you take me to the doctors today?
Me: Why? Are you sick?
Lily: No, I want the doctor to cut my tummy open and put a baby in it. I'm ready to be a mom.

Ella: I'm going to be an art teacher when I grow up. What are you going to be?
Lily: Ummm, a grandma.

{cute photo by Heather Tycksen}

Video

The Capitol

Ella's school class was invited to perform a few songs at the Governor's Summit this weekend. It was a meeting for the Governors of each state, and a bunch of Chinese Ambassadors. It sounds a lot more exciting than it really was. Tyler and I enjoyed a lazy morning at the State Capitol. Ella enjoyed the marble floors and a little tour of the building.


I guess this meeting is a huge deal in China. Which means Ella's class made national news throughout China. There were lots of Chinese press at the event. It probably won't make local news, but Ella is excited that she'll be on T.V. in China.


Here's a picture of Ella's class performing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" in Chinese.

Kennecott

Ella only gets a 3 week summer this year, which is longer than her 2 week summer she got last year (which we spent the entire 2 weeks packing and moving). I was worried that I'd be too busy working to be able to do anything fun with her before she starts school next week. Luckily I was wrong. Thanks to Tyler staying up super late every night to work, we've been able to squeeze a few fun things in. One weekend we took advantage of the Free days at Kennecott. The girls were so excited to take the bus up to see the mines. I can't believe we live so close, and I've never been until now.

Cherry Picking

Tyler's parents invited the girls to go pick cherries in Orem yesterday. Ella & Lily love picking fruit. I love them to pick fruit too, because it means they are more likely to try something healthy, and they are more likely to like it. Hooray for picking cherries on a hot summer day!

4th

We spent most of the weekend working and putting our yard in.

Davis was blessed on Sunday.

We took some time off on Monday afternoon to play and watch a parade and fireworks.

Move That Bus

Just down the street from Ella’s school they were filming the "Move that Bus" segment for Extreme Home Makeover. I decided to take a late lunch break today, and head over to watch it with my friend Wendy.
Yesterday she and another friend were both filmed with the designers doing some work. Today Wendy went running and they filmed her shaking Ty's hand. I can't wait to watch it this fall and see all my friends in the episode (provided they don't get cut out during editing.)