Monkeys, trolls, and books

My sister and her family came to visit from Utah over Labor Day weekend. We took the girls to the zoo. It was Kaylin's first time at a zoo. Here's a picture of Eric trying to get Kaylin to look at the giraffe when it was going to the area where you can feed it.

Kaylin's favorite animals were the monkeys. She hadn't said "monkey" before, but at the zoo she kept saying, "Monkey! Monkey!" over and over. Now she says "monkey" whenever we try to get her to say "Grammy". Hmmmm....

Here are my parents with Macey and Kaylin.

Kaylin and Macey loved the fake otters. Macey even hugged them.

After the zoo we went to see the Fremont Troll.
Paul read the girls a bedtime story. This is the first time Kaylin actually sat through someone reading to her. Normally she likes to look at books by herself and when I try to read to her she flips through the pages really quickly.
We're so glad that Kelsey, Paul, and Macey could come visit. We had a fun time having them and my parents stay at our house. I heard that Paul had a great time... so here's hoping that they'll actually move here someday like they say they will :-).

And, one more thing... HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIC!!!!

Playing catch up...

I haven't posted for awhile, obviously. This is why I need a lap top! If I am on the computer in the computer room while Kaylin is awake she either (a) empties my entire pencil drawer into the recycling bin, (b) insists on sitting on my lap while she empties the drawer onto the desk, (c) insists on sitting on my lap while she types on the keyboard and plays with the mouse, or (d) empties the bookshelf all over the room. Because of this I mostly use the computer during nap time. But Kaylin's naps are getting shorter and I have so much to do while she is asleep. My MUST DO list includes:

1. Eat lunch. I prefer to eat lunch while Kaylin is asleep so that she doesn't whine at me to either share my lunch with her or to let her sit on my lap while I eat and she touches all of my food. I also sometimes watch reruns of The Office while I eat lunch.

2. Read my emails and other people's blogs. Much faster than writing a post myself.

3. Crafting. I always have a bunch of crafts going on. Since I have two first birthday parties coming up I have lots to do. I can't do things the EASY way and just go to the store and buy something like most other people. Ugh.

4. Cleaning. I try to clean something that is hard to clean while Kaylin is awake, like the bathrooms.

And by this time Kaylin is awake and I have no time left to blog! Where are my priorities? Ha!

Here's a picture of Cassie opening the fabulous present that I made her. See... this is what I do while Kaylin naps, make fabulous crafts!

I actually WON a giveaway!!!

You know that Vanilla Joy giveaway I last posted about?? Well, I WON one of the giveaways! I will soon be the proud owner of Creative Memories' StoryBook Creator Plus digital scrapbooking software and Memory Manager 2.0 software. I will also get a Gorillapod Go-Go. I am sooooooo excited! I haven't scrapbooked anything since Kaylin was born. The task of going through all of my pictures and picking out which ones to print always seems so daunting to me. What if I print too many (aka what if I waste time and money?)? What if I don't print enough? What if I want a picture in a different size? Etc, etc. All of these problems will be solved with digital scrapbooking. I can pick the pictures as I scrapbook and choose what size I want them to be. Now all I need is a lap top...