29 Trips Around the Sun

I turned 29 on Wednesday and what a wonderful day it was! Josh made me breakfast in bed, my favorite, waffles with strawberries and whip cream. Then that evening we went to our favorite restaurant, The Cheesecake Bistro at Stoney Point Mall. We ordered cheesecake of course (my favorite being white chocolate strawberry). When we got the cheesecake Lilli burst out singing Happy Birthday, so sweet!! Afterwards we walked around the mall. It was so wonderful! I bought myself some wallflowers from Bed Bath and Beyond and then handed the bag to Lilli and thanked her for the present. Josh played it up and told Lilli to keep it a secret until we got home. Lilli was really excited to have me open it, and asked me a couple times if I liked the present...and of course I did:) I am so grateful to have such a beautiful, wonderful family!!

 As I think back over the 29 years of my life I am just so grateful for the wonderful people in my life! First of all I am so blessed to have such wonderful parents who raised me in the gospel and always put us children first. I knew my mother and father loved me and that I could talk to them about anything. As a teenager I always loved coming home after a date or being out with friends because I knew my mom would be waiting up for me, so I could tell her all about the night!! Thanks Mom!! I've always looked up to my dad the way he was respected in the community because of his name (Leavitt) and because of the person he is. I always knew I could talk to him about anything also. I have always tried to live the very best because I was ( I still am:) a Leavitt, and I didn't want to defile it in anyway. I am so thankful for my wonderful sisters and the amazing women they are. They are constantly amazing me and I am so thankful for our friendship and their love and support!! I am thankful for my brother and the wonderful person he is. I am also thankful for my "other" family my in-laws! From the start they have always been so welcoming and loving. I love each of them for the amazing people they are and am thankful for the wonderful memories we have made so far. I am sooo thankful for my best friend, my wonderful husband! I am thankful for his hard work everyday at school and for his dedication to school, family and the gospel. He is a great example to me and a wonderful husband and father! I am also grateful for my two beautiful daughters! They make me smile everyday and teach me so much and help me grow. I am so thankful for all of the wonderful friends I have made here in Richmond, thank you so much for your examples and for all of the wonderful times! It has been a wonderful 29 years thanks to the many wonderful people that have touched my life for good!

All Cracked Up

A primary song that Lilli has been learning-"I'm all made of hinges cause everything bends, from the top of my head, way down to my toes, I'm hinges in front and I'm hinges in back. I'm all made of hinges or else I would crack!" We all know it right? Well I was reading my blog  and some of the comments out loud to Lilli (she loves it!) Janica had left a comment on how some pictures had made her crack up. When I read that to Lilli, she asked..."does she not have hinges?" Now did that ever crack ME up:)

Fun Run For Cancer

Finally a race we could run with our kids!! This race was for cancer research. We wanted to run and support a girl in our ward with luekemia, Molly Keeny. She had, had chemotherapy the day before the race, but showed up Saturday and her family pushed her the 5k's. We admire her for her positive attitude! Our prayers are with her and her family! I bought the girls new runners, so they had been practicing their running. During the week, after I would finish my run, the girls would get out of the stroller and practice running, so that "we can run fast in the race." We pushed the girls basically the whole way until we arrived at the road where the finish line was! Lilli was so excited, especially when we got closer to the finish line and people were cheering her on and clapping!! She was smiling ear to ear! It was a really neat feeling to see so many (around 450) people show up to support Molly (and others with cancer) It was actually organized by 5 highschool kids. Wow way to go!!

Wow look at that form:)

Izzy ran with Daddy and tried to keep up with her big sister! Way to go Izzy!!

The Things Kids Say...

The other night we had our friends the Miners stay over night. Lilli and her bud Sammy slept in her room. Sammy was a little uneasy about staying in a new place over night, in the dark. Lilli reassured her and told her that when you are scared you can say a prayer to Heavenly Father, and even though you can't see him he is there watching over us! Wow,  can I say what a neat thing to hear my little 3 almost 4 year old daughter tell a friend what we have taught her!!  They really are listening:)

Isabella said the cutest thing the other night also. I was telling her to say "Pretty," it is the cutest thing when she says it. Anyways so she says it and then out of the blue she said "Mommy Pretty!" So cute, I love it!!

Oh How We LOVE The Beach!

I just had to post some more pictures of our trip to the beach! I love beach pictures, they always seem to turn out really well!

The girls looked so cute in their swimming suits! They loved playing in the sand, the water was a little cold but they were brave and took a couple plunges.

Josh loves to dig holes...so we brought our camping shovel and boy did he dig some holes. One big enough for me. Then everyone helped cover me up with the sand, I was ok until it got a little hard to breath, and then when I tried to get out I couldn't...needless to say I started to feel a little clausterphobic. I wriggled my arms out but then my hips were stuck (those darn hips:) I got a little flustered, it was not a nice feeling. I was finally able to break free after Josh stopped laughing and decided to help me:) He thanked me for letting him have a little "fun"...anything for my babe:)

I was able to get a little revenge, but it didn't work as well because of his positioning, and well he doesn't have any hips..lucky for him:)

Camping Fun!

We had a blast camping! We went to First Landing State Park, one of our favorite spots! Our good friends the Miners joined us and we had an awesome time!  I think I cooked Izzy's hot dog for too long, she looked at me as if to say "Mom hot dogs are not supposed to be black.. this is disgusting!"

Lilli and her best bud Sammy loved the camping trip and had so much fun together! Katie (Sammy's Mom) and I loved watching them have so much fun together!! We just hope they remember these times!

Good morning Izzy! What a happy girl!! She was all smiles, she loves camping!

The kids even had their very own trampoline:)

Lilli found a new friend, a furry catepillar! Good morning to you too Lilli!

Daddy's Week!

Josh was VERY exhausted after a long couple weeks of finals!! He had pulled a couple all nighters and was completely exhausted . He was able to sleep for a few hours, but then I had a weeks worth of "fun" things to do together as a family! (Ok I let him catch up on his sleep:) The girls and I had been out of town for a week and half and when we came home, Josh was in the thick of studying. So it was a very welcome time when he finished his finals! Isabella was especially excited, she cuddled and followed him around EVERYWHERE! I think we have a Daddy's girl! We were all VERY excited to have some Daddy time!!! We love him SOOOOO much!!!

We decided to take a trip to Virginia Beach and go camping! Our favorite place to stay at the beach; First Landings State Park! They have really spacious camp sites and you can walk only a few hundred feet to the beach! We had such a wonderful time with perfect weather and fun times with friends!

Josh made his famous cobbler!! Peach cobbler, Yummy!!! We went camping with our friends the Miners!! Their little girl Sammy is Lilli's best friend, they had a blast together!!!

Fun times at the beach!!

We love the children's museum!! They hosted a "Princess and Pirate Party." The girls went on a treasure hunt complete with a map and little "treasures."  

Lilli and Coconut instant friends

Lilli's favorite part was the "Pirate Birds!" She loved holding and petting them, she could have stayed there all day, we were finally able to finish the treasure hunt after about 30 minutes of the birds.  She loves animals and is amazed at every little thing about them, I love to watch her with animals (actually I love to watch her do anything)

Isabella wasn't to sure about the birds, she looked at them for a little bit, but then shied away.  One of the workers put one on my shoulder,  I was nervous it was going to peck at my ear or something but I survived:) The girls had a fun time and of course didn't want to leave, thank goodness for our annual pass! 

The Purple Kitty...

Yesterday Lilli wanted to paint...and whenever Lilli paints it means a BIG mess!  Not only does she like to paint the paper with a paint brush,  but she LOVES to get the paint all over her hands and smear it everywhere. Finger painting is her genre. It started out with just her nose, I thought she looked like a cat, so she decided she needed to paint her whole face to look like a purple kitty. She even did a dance singing purple kitty the whole time.
She even had to paint her lips purple, she discovered that paint doesn't taste very good:)

There's my beautiful Lil's!

Izzy's First Hairdo!!

As most of you know Izzy doesn't have much hair. Lately though is seems to be coming in quite well, on the back and sides that is.  The back has the most, and we can even make a duck tail with it:) The other day I decided I would try and do pig tails, well it worked pretty well. She was a good sport and only squirmed a few times. She is always watching Lilli have her hair done and tries to stick bows in her hair, so she was pretty excited to put a clip in hers. What a cutie:)