J&A + fun!

Happy Birthday, Cousin!

Alex — Fri, 18 May 2012 04:50:03 +0000

The girls wanted to say Happy Birthday to their cousin Abby who turned two today! We can’t believe you’re so big! We miss you and hope you had a great birthday!

Happy Birthday from Emmy and Kaylee...

...and from Leah and Mayzie!

Happy Easter!

Alex — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:53:56 +0000

Although we were definitely glad we stayed an extra day in Phoenix to see Grandma Conquer and others again, we were a little sad we missed going to church on Easter Sunday since we drove back home that day. Emmy had school the next day, so we gave the girls a bath and when they got out they saw that the Easter Bunny had come! Emmy and Kaylee were super excited to see little baskets next to Leah and Mayzie’s cribs.

Grandpa Bruce came over for the egg hunt and helped us find all the eggs. Even the twins found a some.

We got to wear our Easter outfits to church the next week, and the girls all looked great! (Be sure to click on the picture so it doesn’t look like I’m missing my head!) We’re glad we got to spend a lot of the Easter season with family, and we had lots of fun on our spring break. If you look at the pictures above, you can even see the area above our fireplace that Julia decorated with her finds from Kirkland’s Home Store!All of our Spring Break posts:

Bass Pro Shop and Breakfast with Kasey and Karl

Alex — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:35:37 +0000

After the zoo, Julia came up with a plan to go to the Kirkland home store (she had been the day before to a smaller one in Mesa) on the way back to Aunt Cindy’s house. Since they had a Bass Pro shop right next door, Emmy, Kaylee, and I decided to check it out while she and the twins found all of the right decorations. I’m not supposed to tell you that Julia had so much fun at Kirkland each time that she dreamed about shopping there two nights in a row.

The Bass Pro Shop is awesome. We could spend all day there, really. We had been to the one in Denver with my family and this one was similar, so the girls knew right what to do when we got there – check out the aquarium and the elevator. I have good memories of going to the Bass Pro Shop in Springfield, Missouri when I was a kid so I definitely enjoy going back each time. We had fun checking out all the tents, especially the biggest one which they really liked since it had two rooms. While we were there, we made a discovery that not only did the Bass Pro Shop sell fudge, but they gave out free samples. Since we knew Julia would be a while at the decoration store (kidding, Julia!), we decided to try a bunch of different kinds and settled on peanut butter and chocolate for Emmy and I, and rocky road with marshmallows for Kaylee and Julia. I’m not sure what it says about us that I remember all the details about our fudge but I can’t even remember the names of the animals we saw at the zoo.

On Saturday morning we went to go see Julia’s friend Kasey, her husband Karl, and their two kids. Since it was right in the middle of the busy tax season, we decided to meet Kasey at IHOP, where Emmy and Kaylee both got huge pancakes with faces on them. It was lots of fun to catch up with them!All of our Spring Break posts:

Phoenix Zoo

Alex — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:15:24 +0000

On Friday we went to check out the Phoenix Zoo. It seemed that lots of kids had the day off since it was Good Friday, so the Zoo was pretty crowded when we first got there. We had lots of fun seeing different animals, although some of them were pretty reclusive, possibly because it was a warmer day.

We borrowed a stroller from Julia’s Aunt Cindy, which meant that Emmy and Kaylee got to share a seat, walk around the zoo, or ride on my shoulders. Our favorite animals were the tiger, giraffes, and zebras.

I was surprised that Emmy and Kaylee didn’t get too scared when the tiger roared close by, which was pretty cool. He was one of the first animals we saw walking around very much. After that we went to feed the giraffes since they are one of Emmy’s favorite animals, but the girls were a little too scared to do that so they watched as I fed her a lettuce leaf and some other food. The giraffe’s had an African name for eyelash because she had huge eyelashes! It must take her forever to put on mascara in the mornings.

Kaylee’s favorite was the zebra – she kept asking to see them and we finally did right before we left. Julia noted that zebras were a lot bigger than horses. The girls thought it was hilarious that they got to see a zebra relieve herself right in front of us. Good to know that we have such refined children. After the zebras we checked out the carousel and got a nice big soda to drink. We’re definitely not used to Arizona heat, and this was only April!

All of our Spring Break posts:

Great Grandma Conquer

Alex — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 21:25:05 +0000

We got to see Great Grandma Maevon Conquer a couple of times during spring break! We had initially thought we’d just get to see her once, but with an extra day we made sure to visit with her again. Cindy and Julia went and picked her up while they ran errands and she came and visited with us. The twins were so excited to see her! Emeline was named after Maevon’s mother, so Grandma made sure to tell Emmy all about her name.

The girls had a lot of fun at Grandma’s house, too. They didn’t want to leave! First, we got a tour of the house and all of the pictures and lots of stories about relatives. We only wish we had more time to hear more stories since we don’t get to go out to Arizona very often. The twins had a lot of fun with their grandma, too, and they laughed every time she joked around with them.

All of our Spring Break posts:

Fun with Family for Spring Break

Alex — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:54:10 +0000

We got to see lots of family in Mesa! Most of Julia’s relatives on her mom’s side live in Mesa, so we got in a lot of quick visits with family. Most of the Tawzer clan (including plenty we didn’t manage to get pictures of) went to Lynn and Dixie’s house where we got to talk a bit while Emmy and Kaylee rode bikes outside with their second cousins. It’s fun to have so many cousins!

While we were in Mesa we stayed at Cindy and Lee’s casita, which Emmy and Kaylee claimed as their own house by the end of the trip. We got to see a lot more family at Cindy and Lee’s house, including their son Shawn, Kasey and Denise and a few of their kids (who got to hear Kaylee tell all about our trip to the zoo), and Great Grandma Maevon. We’re sad we didn’t take more pictures.

We got talked into staying an extra day so that we could see Julia’s cousin Mandy perform as part of an improv comedy group called Jesterz. What a lot of fun! Mandy’s sister Calli and her friend Fiona even babysat the girls for us that night, which was awesome. The girls rode bikes all evening and generally had lots of fun staying up past their bedtimes.

We’re really glad we could come visit!

All of our Spring Break posts:

On the Road and Fun in Phoenix

Alex — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:03:20 +0000

(To see these pictures larger, click on the image. You can use the arrow keys to navigate).

For Emmy’s Spring Break, we decided to take a trip to Arizona so that the twins could meet their Great-Grandma Conquer. They got to meet my grandma last summer while we were evacuated during the fire, so if we can fit in a trip to Oregon they will have met all of their living great-grandparents.

As you see in the first picture, Los Alamos had got quite a bit of snow on Sunday night, so we were eager to get to Arizona with some warmer weather. I’ve never visited Arizona in the summer (except just driving through), and I’m not sure I could handle all that heat, but the weather was great the whole time we were there. The girls did great on our drive! Julia and I think they’re spoiled, of course, considering that they got to watch movies on the DVD player. We both remember riding in the car on many vacations with no such luxuries.

All of our Spring Break posts:

On our trip, we got to do lots of fun activities. Sometimes I think our lives must sound really exciting when you read our blog, but living in our small town means that you have to maximize your fun whenever you’re in a big city. One day we took the girls to play miniature golf, which was a lot of fun. It would have been even more fun if the teenagers and their parents ahead of us weren’t incredibly slow (we skipped them around the 16th hole), but we still had lots of fun and Emmy definitely won the day with four holes in one! It was very impressive.

Stay tuned for more pictures from our Spring Break trip!

Happy Birthday, Grandma Cathie!

Alex — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 15:30:51 +0000

(Click on a picture to enlarge, then use the arrow keys to navigate between pictures)

Grandma Cathie and Uncle Christian visited us during their Spring Break. We had a lot of fun, and even got to celebrate Grandma’s birthday! As you can see from the pictures above, the girls are all very excited to celebrate birthdays. First, they got themselves all cleaned up in the tub, then they decorated the house! I’m not sure anyone has ever talked Grandma into wearing a tiara or having a “My Little Pony” theme at her party, but her granddaughters sure can do that!

Grandpa Bruce had arranged for a bunch of people to call on the phone or by Skype. It was a great surprise and a lot of fun! Each person that called shared a few stories about Cathie, but since we’ve embarrassed her enough with these pictures we’ll keep those off the blog

Happy Birthday, Grandma! We were happy to share a great party with you!

Bouncy House!

Alex — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 14:50:07 +0000

(Click on a picture to see it larger, then use your arrow keys to see all of the pictures)

Emmy had an extra day off for Spring Break, so we decided to take a day and go down to Albuquerque. The best part was the bouncy house at Hoot’s Party Zone, which we had been to last October with Kaylee when we were in Albuquerque for a doctor’s appointment. After Emmy saw the pictures from that trip, she requested to go to the “bouncy house” pretty much every day after that! They have parties there almost every weekend, so when Emmy finally got a day off during the week we made sure to go!

Emmy and Kaylee and the twins had a blast at Hoot’s with Grandpa Bruce, Grandma Cathie, and Christian. We loved the “climbing maze”, which is a multi-level connected maze that you can crawl all around, and the best part was that not only were adults allowed in all of the bouncy houses and climbing structures (to help their kids, of course), but they are free! Julia, Christian, and I had a blast chasing Kaylee and Emmy all around, and the twins got to bounce around a little with Grandpa and Grandma, too.

After we wore ourselves out, we headed over to Golden Corral, which is one of Emmy and Kaylee’s favorite places to eat. Again, we had gone their on our Albuquerque visit last October, so Emmy wanted to relive every moment of that trip! Emmy and Kaylee had more desserts than actual food, but that’s what Spring Break is for, right?

But Spring Break wasn’t over there! To be continued…

While Mommy’s Away…

Alex — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 03:25:48 +0000

Last weekend, Julia went to Time Out for Women, a conference where women talk about womanly stuff. And while Mommy was away, the rest of us had a party! Saturday was St. Patrick’s Day, so Julia made us a fancy St. Patrick’s Day fruit plate – a little rainbow with a pot of gold coming out of it for some of the festivities. Very nice. The pot of gold did not survive long, and the rainbow was eaten right along with it, because we got to watch movies (Emmy was somewhat obsessed with Steve Martin’s version of Cheaper By the Dozen that weekend) and play all weekend long!

Julia is not a fan of sloppy joes, but I think they are delicious, so the twins and I cooked some up while Grandpa Bruce came and watched the girls while they rode bikes. I figured that since Julia likes food when you take fancy pictures of it, I would do the same when I cook. What do you think? Here, have some more sloppy joes. I made ‘em extra sloppy for youse! I know youse kids like ‘em sloppy!

The girls got to sleep in their sleeping bags in a play tent I set up for them in their room. The tent had a tunnel in and out of it, which they made sure to use each time they wanted to get out. The girls decided to wear some of their swimming gear to bed instead of actual pajamas, but isn’t that what parties are for?

When we got up the next morning (which was way too early, by the way… when do kids start wanting to sleep in?) we had green pancakes for St. Patrick’s Day!

We even ate in the living room, but don’t tell mommy! Here they are on their second watching of Cheaper By the Dozen. Also note that Emmy was sure to wear her green pants, at least until later, when she decided she wanted to get pinched.

Mayzie (on the left) and Leah played obstacle course in the tent. Apologies for the cell phone pics. Emmy and Kaylee made sure they had fun going through the tunnel a bunch of times…

And they even set up a path for the twins to crawl along before they came into the tunnel. These sisters had a lot of fun playing together.

And when all the fun was over, they all hopped in the bath to get cleaned up so that we looked a little more presentable for when Mommy came home! Leah definitely enjoyed the bath with all her sisters, and Emmy did a great job as the woman of the house to make sure everyone was safe.