A 50th Anniversary Party

Well we had a wonderful Thanksgiving here in St. George. It was actually a 50th Anniversary party for Grandma and Grandpa Great, Grandpa's Mom and Dad. They started their little family 50 years ago. Crazy! They have six boys and so it was the wives of those six boys who put together the party. We ate traditional Thanksgiving fare but with a lot of different desserts including a yummy wedding cake! Most of the adults ate too much from the looks of it. My Grandma and Grandpa cleared out their basement and put up tables and had fancy decorations. 20 lbs of mashed potatoes were consumed!! (Okay there was maybe half a pound left!) They cooked two full turkeys and two turkey breasts and there weren't a lot of turkey leftovers. It was a big get together.

All of their boys shared memories of growing up with their parents. Lots of funny stories. We also made them play "The Not So Newly Wed Game". You know, grown up games. I was slightly disappointed but everyone was laughing so it was okay. Plus there were little kids for me to play with. My cousins twice removed and once removed or something....regardless they are my size and so we played princesses.

Our little family dressed up matching with Grandma and Grandpa and my aunts and uncles so we could get our picture taken. Funny enough we dressed up in exactly the same colors as Aunt Angie's wedding three years ago. Mommy doesn't like her pictures from that wedding (I was only 6 weeks old) so she was happy for a re do. Cousin Bry took them with his nice camera so we're hoping it made us look beautiful (not that Cara and I need any help!)




And then of course we followed up the next day (today) by doing our annual Angel's Landing hike. And in true form, Cara and I cried the whole way down. Okay that's not entirely accurate. As a quick reminder, we did the hike twice last year and the first time it started snowing and froze us out and ended in our Mommy and Daddy SPRINTING as fast as they could down the hike. The second go round was perfect. The problem? COLD. Because this year it was FREEZING. Nobody made it to the top. Mommy and Daddy had to stop at the bottom of Walter's Wiggles because it was an ice skating rink. The only way up was slipping and falling and most people were coming back down on their bottoms. Our little bodies were freezing despite gloves and hats and double layers of pants and socks. We borrowed a backpacker from our friends so both of us could be carried but Aunt Becca ended up carrying an empty pack again because I was crying and demanded to be held by Daddy. Anyway, after we got down Angel's Landing, Grandpa suggested we go to Weeping Rock because it would be in the sun. Uh...that trail was almost solid ice. We managed to get up to where the big icicles were falling off the cliff but both Uncle Eric and Aunt Becca took nasty spills on the ice and we had to walk off the trail on the dirt where you aren't supposed to walk to have any chance of staying up right. Daddy and I ended up sliding on our bums to get down without falling and breaking something. We eventually warmed up at the best treat of all, Oscar's.

Chase's Baptism Weekend

Finally Mommy helped Cara and I download our pictures from our trip up north LAST WEEKEND. Here are the photo highlights.

There was the usual double trip to the zoo. The swan that was so excited about the food we were throwing that it tried to eat the stroller .

A slightly obscene up close view of the baby orangutang, Acara

And I was finally not scared by the gorilla even though he was also REALLY close.

We also got to play with hula hoops and dance and be silly with Oma.

This time we stayed at Aunt Margaret's house as her first official house guests. She gave up her cozy master bedroom to our little clan which delighted us two because of the tub. (Plus Cara really really loved her kitties.)


And what would a weekend with the entire Romney clan be without a photo of the triplet cousins?

It was so much fun. We got to see lots of our cousins because we did an early Thanksgiving seeing as how we were all in town anyway. The actual meal was so chaotic that we didn't even all eat at the same time but it was worth it to be with everybody. And besides Mommy makes yummy mashed potatoes.

It was also really nice to able to watch Chase be baptized and hear Uncle Adam tell him what a great example he was and that we were all proud of him. Aunt Rachel is a great host and always makes very delicious food. We love our Romney family!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!!

We have the bestest Daddy in the whole world and today is his special day. We love you and here is a list of things that make you awesome.

-You are a better cook than Mommy (shhh don't tell her.)
-You make us yummy eggs for breakfast and sometimes let me help.
-You can do my hair and sometimes not have it look like Dad hair.
-You let Cara and I sit on your lap while you are working and watch whatever you are watching on Netflix instant viewing.
-You always keep us nice and warm on our walks to Miss Rubi's house.
-You are so good at singing the "Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly" song.
-You always help us wake up from nightmares and get us drinks of water and will sleep next to me on the pink bed.

And here is a list of things from Mommy of why she thinks you are awesome.
-You make the bed just about every morning and it looks good.
-You do the dishes without being asked all the time.
-You deal with Gabby in the morning. I especially love this now that it is freezing.
-You will rub me down when I use puppy eyes on you and never ask for a rub back.
-You are fairly tidy and your clothes make it in to the correct hamper on a regular basis.
-You are so hard working and care that I care about savings.
-You get the girls up and dressed at least three days a week.
-And then you feed them dinner two days a week.
-I definitely feel like we have a very equal partnership in our relationship.

Sheesh, Daddy there are lots more things that we love about you but it's already a lengthy post for anybody else who will read it! We hope you have a good day!

A forgotten post...

We just got back from a fun trip up to the frigid north for lots of crazy family get togethers but we need to do some downloading of pictures before we do that post. Right now I want to post about what we did on actual Halloween Sunday! Yup, we forgot about the fun pictures we took! After church, we went and did my Grandpa's favorite Sunday afternoon activity. HIKING. Especially in Snow Canyon or there about. Now there are even more awesome pictures on Grandpa's computer that we will have to add later so that they make it in to the eventual published version of our blog. However here is the highlight of the hike. We hiked up to this big beautiful white sand dune. And what do you do with sand dunes? You run down them of course. This is what happened on my second trip down...I took a soil sample as Uncle Troy would say. Face first. And you know what? I surprised everyone by laughing!





Of course we can't leave Cara out. She also took a soil sample. This was what she and I were doing while Mommy did the full cleaning of our before our trip to SLC. The funny part? Mommy had actually just finished mopping the floor which come on, only happens every month if she's lucky. Guess who got stripped naked before being allowed inside?

The Little Things

Guest post by Mommy:

So I need to take a minute before my girls move on even further and document for myself and not so much for everyone else what they have been up to lately.

Starting with Siena:

-As you've seen her favorite game on the Wii is Just Dance. She's actually very good at singing the songs we dance to the most and she isn't half bad at copying the gal on the screen!

-If you say it's a little cold outside, she'll correct you and say "No, it's a BIG cold outside."

-When I get in a crabby mood or I'm upset at her, she'll start to "cry" and tell me that she wants me to be happy.

-If we're in the car and it's dark outside, she'll tell me to put on the night time song which is a counting sheep song at the end of one of our kid CDs.

-We are VERY in to dresses right now and it's a challenge to get her in to pants.

-Pretty much a picky eater but will sometimes surprise you by wolfing down a bag of carrots or a whole apple

-Still a crazy dreamer with frequent nightmares but she doesn't know she can get out of bed by herself!

-Daddy's girl all the way

-Very good at riding her tricycle and is figuring out how to go fast and slow

-And we just started a new gymnastics class and it's going...okay...she's inherited a lack of flexibility from both sides

-She is just starting to "swim" under water on Grandma and Grandpa's new spa's little shamu shelf and she is loving it but she won't go in the spa at night because she doesn't like the pool light?

As for Cara:

She has just exploded in to her own little person. She hit that 15 month mark and wow!

-She has a bit of a temper and when I say bit , I mean HUGE. She will scream and throw things that she doesn't want. "Mine" is a very popular word for her

-Eats a whole banana or two eggs for breakfast and is still hungry

-Still suckin' that thumb

-Her vocabulary increases every day (and I really mean that). Her most frequent words (besides mine) Mommy, Daddy, Angie, Gabby, Doggie, book, shoes, bye, hi, pease (please), tank chu (thank you which she says almost every time you hand her something or she hands you something), wa wa (this is new and it means water), no which she says when she means yes and no

-She's starting to connect them in two or three word sentences "want water" or "No Mommy No"

-Also loves to play the Just Dance game and shakes her head and sometimes her whole body

-Loves Grandma now just a little bit more than Grandpa...but if Grandpa is headed outside that's who is her friend

-she is an animal LOVER be it cat, dog, stuffed, big, or small. She loves them

-Little daredevil in the new spa...flirts with the edge of the shamu shelf on purpose and likes to jump in to arms

So there you have it...my update on my sweet little girls who are changing EVERY DAY!

Oh I guess I also need to add that Siena still likes to watch Signing Time and Cara EATS IT UP. She's doing a lot more signs but I think she prefers her "little" voice.

Okay and as another side note, I am getting started on my second "blog" book using Blurb.com and it just "slurped" my 2009 entries over for me...uh 355 posted pictures...I can ONLY imagine how many I will have done in 2010...of course Cara WAS born in 2009....

Water Skiing....Apa?

That's right after a near 25 year hiatus (at least), my Apa tried water skiing again! You'd think he would have picked like July or even September to try it again, but no...he waited until November 3rd to join my Grandpa and Grandma out on their boat. And he was good at it. He got right up and took a long ride around the lake. He never once said something about the cold water. (My mommy wouldn't even get in and Grandma and Aunt Angie used a FULL BODY wet suit and immediately took it off.) Apa stayed in his wet suit the whole time! He even tried wake boarding but Grandpa's boots were too small and then we talked him in to the water to try wake surfing...that was where we stopped after making his back go "twang". He still got back in the boat and relaxed it in Grandma and Grandpa's new jacuzzi later that night though so we didn't completely break him. It was nice to have a quick visit with our Oma and Apa.

Isn't my Oma beautiful?

And Apa looks so handsome in his life jacket!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, everybody! I actually got to go trick or treating for the first time this year! I said trick or treat at the right times at our ward trunk or treat. Mommy didn't bother having Cara fill up a bucket. She was content to suck on a sucker for most the evening. I even got to go for a pony cart ride!


We had fun the whole day long. We went to my friend Tegan's dad's studio where he was taking cute pictures of us for Halloween. Mommy didn't get a digital copy of it but here is what it looked like with just Cara in the shot. I was struggling with being my usual shy self however the finished picture is adorable of the both of us. Mommy was going for scary costumes but really....we were just too cute.


And then we went and hung out at the Rosenbruch Wild Animal Museum. They were having a ghost counting contest and a costume contest and I had a lot of fun looking through my binoculars and petting some of the animals. (Okay so the animals are "stuffed" but it's still cool...people have described it as the dead animal museum, really the perfect place to spend Halloween.)



Oh and to finish this Halloween post, here are the pumpkins we carved...when I say we...I mean Mommy and Grandpa. I have a bizarre phobia and didn't even want to be in the room when they carved them. The witch one is technically Aunt Angie's pumpkin but the other two are the ones Cara and I picked out ourselves!


Oh just a quick P.S.
Cara is 15 months old TODAY! She really is a little toddler and no longer a baby. We will find out her stats in a couple days and then we'll do a better official post of the silly things she is doing now. The big focus is that we might have broke the 20 lb mark! Yea!