Trampolines, Easter, and Women's Conference

In mid-April I visited a trampoline place for my sister's birthday and it was so much fun. Here we are after jumping for a while, all hot and sweaty!

I had a great time doing flips and tricks, I was surprised how much I was able to do after not being on a trampoline in years. See the video above of me doing a front flip into the foam pit!

We had a Easter egg hunt out at my dad's house before Easter Sunday and the cousins all had a great time looking for eggs together. This was the first year that my kids got to be a part of this tradition so it was nice to not have to miss out on the fun this year.

Abbie with her eggs

Leah with her basket

Feasting on all the candy

The girls getting their Easter baskets. Leah saw this yellow chick at the store a few weeks before Easter and took turns hugging each and every one in the store before they left. I just had to go back and get one for her for her basket. She loved it!

Abbie was excited to get a chocolate bunny!

Both of them with their chickies

Leah and Porter and their cute diapered bums before bed one night. Porter started crawling away from me before I could get him dressed and Leah started chasing him. So cute!

My mom and a few sisters and I attended BYU Women's Conference this year and it was awesome! We had a great time going to the classes all day and then having dinner and spending the night in Midway before returning to our families and every day responsibilities. It was great to have a break from everything and enjoy a little weekend with just the girls.

Sisters: best friend or worst enemy?

Since Porter has been born, Abbie and Leah have had to rely on each other more to keep themselves entertained and so they've become better friends (and enemies) as some of these pictures attest to. Enjoying a rare loving moment (they don't seem to last long enough sometimes).

The sign on Abbie's bedroom door which means "No Leah coming in my room and playing with my toys!" which she reminds us of several times a day but isn't very effective since Leah can't read and they now share a bedroom so it doesn't work out very well. I'm often heard yelling from across the house "Abbie, let Leah play with some toys" or "Abbie, let Leah in your room or else...!" Maybe someday, like 20 years from now, they'll finally love each other more often than not?

One of Leah's latest creations. She is already drawing stick figure people and I think they are so cute. Abbie didn't really start doing this until after she was 4 and Leah still has two weeks until she turns 3!

About a week ago Jared made the girls a puppet show theater out of a cardboard box, which they loved, but it quickly became a constant fight as to who got to play in it so the next night he brought home an identical box and made a copy and it made them both happy for about 15 minutes. They haven't played in them since and it's been a week...

Taking turns the first night


Playing in the first snow of the season

Abbie actually found one of my snowflake scrapbooking punches and made a bunch with white paper and then they threw these up in the air while playing in the "real" snow

We made a little trip to the temple a few weeks ago to show the girls the outside since they've never been to this one. They loved running around the grounds and talking about getting married in the temple someday.
Leah practicing being reverent

Abbie was actually really sad that she couldn't go inside since the only other temple she's been to lately was during an open house when she did get to go inside.

Playing around the big nativity outside the stake center

A visit to the fancy mall near the temple that was decorated with fairies and beautiful lights and Christmas decorations

Making cookies with Daddy

And gingerbread houses at a party to get into the holiday spirit

Sisterly Love

Over the past several months, Abbie has been pretty possessive of her toys and will take almost anything away that Leah picks up to play with. Leah is now old enough that she cares and is starting to fight back or have a tantrum when she doesn't get what she wants. It's getting to the point where I'd rather they be in different rooms or levels of the house so I won't have to keep separating them and hear them fighting and crying.

So recently I've been working with Abbie more to share with her sister and teach her to take turns. Also, to let Leah join her when playing with something and that it's more fun when they can do something together. I've been trying to get Abbie to teach Leah how to do something instead of doing it for her or taking it away when Leah does it wrong. Anyway, by some miracle, it's working!


Here's a picture of them enjoying some time together outside, not fighting or crying. Abbie used to take the wagon away from Leah and not let her touch it or put anything in it or get inside but after some coaxing, I got her to give Leah a ride in it and now it's one of her favorite things to do, pull Leah in the wagon. She also has a piggy bank with a bunch of fake coins that go in it and now she will yell for Leah to come put some coins in the piggy bank and she happily gives Leah a few. Also, when Abbie wants to go downstairs, she asks for Leah to come too because she doesn't want to be all alone down there.

Another example is Abbie has a bed for her favorite blue dolly that has never been out of her room because she didn't want Leah to touch it. But just a few days ago, Abbie brought the bed out into the living room and let Leah put her yellow dolly into it with her blue dolly and then proceeded to read some books to the dolls, sing them some songs, and put them to sleep, all while Leah played with them too. This never would have happened a month ago. One last example is that Abbie doesn't freak out as much when Leah gets into her room and plays with her toys and she even wants to get Leah up first thing in the morning so they can play together instead of be apart.

I don't know if it's the age or what, but something we're doing is finally working and it's much more fun to see the girls playing together and being happy instead of fighting and us always having to separate them. I mean, they are siblings and still have their moments but at least we're making progress and this gives me hope that maybe someday they'll even be best friends!