Ninjas and Make overs!

Two stories this time!

First is from primary yesterday.  On Sundays I teach 7 - 9 year old's in our ward.  During sharing time we were drawing pictures to send to our missionaries in our ward.  One of the boys in my class drew a picture of a Ninja, then wrote "May your heart be as strong as this Ninja!"  - And the best part - it was a Sister  Missionary! I bet she is going to love it!

The second story is from earlier today.  I went to go get Cortney out of her room after quiet time,  I love seeing what she is doing when I go in!  Today she had this little toy stuffed bunny and she was using her play hair doing kit.  She had the brush, the curling iron and hair dryer all set out and was fixing the bunnies hair.  She told me she was making the bunnies hair pretty!  I love little girls!

Just like Rapunzel!

I know I just posted earlier today but Cortney was so cute at our trip to the park tonight I didn't want to forget!

We went to the park and Cortney started trying to climb the long pole they have - most people just slide down it - like a fireman's pole.  Anyway Cortney was trying for a good 30 seconds to climb that thing then she turned to me and said "Mom!  Look just like Rapunzel!"  Her new favorite movie is Tangled and she was thinking the pole was like her hair!  I love that she has such an imagination and can think of things in a creative way instead of taking them like they are!

A Recent Conversation...

This was a recent conversation between me and my mini me:

C = Cortney
M = Mom, or me!

C - "Mom?"

M- "Yes?"

C - "Mom?"

M - "Yeah?"

C- "Mom?"

M- "Yes Cortney?"

C - "Mom?"

M- "Cortney?"

C- "Yes?"

Two year olds are fun!  In other notes Cortney recently discovered she can make her tummy go in and out and finds it to be hilarious!!  She has also been eating and sleeping more than usually lately which means...another growth spurt.  Spurt?  Is that how you spell it?  That is a weird word that I don't think I have ever written in my life before.  Oh well, the point is Cortney is going to grow again!  She is already so tall!  She fits in 4t clothes height wise and 2t weight wise because she is skinny!  I look at her sometimes and feel like I don't feed her enough, then I remember that she ate an entire carton of strawberries by herself for breakfast the other day and remember she eats plenty!  I guess it doesn't matter how tall she is as long as she is healthy!

Chris and I are both busy with school.  This is my last semester, and I am so glad it is!  Chris has one semester left after this one, it is kind of an exciting time in our lives!  We are not sure where exactly we are going to end up after school but we are looking forward to figuring everything out together within the next year !

Jenn's Wedding!

Yesterday on 9-10-11 Jenn was sealed to Spencer!  We are all so happy for them, and it was such a beautiful day!  I was so nervous about taking their pictures that I barely slept 3 nights before the wedding, but I can sleep well now seeing how they turned out!  I took over 1200 pictures, so there are a lot to go through but I am amazed at this talent I have been blessed with!  I posted these on face book, but here are a couple of my favorites!  

I took a bunch of pictures of them when they first came out, but none where they were both looking, so I just picked my favorite!

 Now this is cool!  I am in the picture and taking it at the same time!  I am in the bottom right, I am holding a remote control to take the picture - that is how the magic happens!  PS - love Jakes face!

 Pretty!

 Ring shot!

 This next one is probably my favorite!  So stunning!  I still am surprised I took it!  All those prayers I said really paid off!

 This is Spencers family - I haven't edited our families yet, but I loved that we took them in the Joesph Smith building, such a pretty place!

 I thought this was a pretty unique shot of the temple!

It was a great day!  Like I said I took plenty of pictures so there are a lot to go through.  I'm hoping to go through the rest by the end of the week because my final semester of school starts tomorrow!  But that will keep me busy the first couple of days. 

Congrats again to Jenn and Spencer!  So happy for you two!

Endless Shrimp is Back!

It is fairly wide known that Red Lobster is Chris' favorite restaurant.  So it isn't unusual to get a gift card from time to time for Red Lobster.  All throughout the year we collect the gift cards until Endless Shrimp time, at which time Chris feels he finally gets his money worth!  It has been almost a year since we went last, and I was pleasantly surprised how well Cortney acted - for a two year old anyway.

We had a nice time, Chris didn't beat his high score - 140, but he came close with 120 shrimp admitting that he just doesn't eat as much as he used to.  Not as much but still a lot!  Shrimp Scampi is our favorite and we have learned a secret when it comes to Scampi I thought we would share.

The first order of shrimp is always bigger, and the scampi comes in its own little dish filled with a sauce.  When we are finished with our first order of scampi we keep the little dish full of the sauce to pour on top of the next couple rounds - because they put less sauce on for the refills.  This keeps the shrimp tasting yummy!  Also the longer you have to wait for refills the fuller you start to feel, so the trick is for me to order more for myself even when I am finished eating - that way he gets more shrimp faster so he can fit more in.

When we were done eating Cortney and I went and looked at the lobster in the tank.  The hostess asked if we wanted her to take one out so Cort could touch it.  I said yes, but when the lobster came out, Cort ran the other way yelling "AHHH!  MONSTER!!!"  I had to explain it was a lobster not a monster but I am not sure she was convinced.

 We have a couple more gift cards saved up!  We always enjoy Endless Shrimp Season!

Cortney's Book!

The curriculum that I got to teach Cortney at home has a lot of stuff in it that she isn't ready for.  This was a little book that I know she wasn't ready for but I know she likes to color, and I was kind of interested in what she would say,  I didn't help her with any of the answers, what I wrote came straight from her mouth.  Here it is:

 The first page says "A Book About ME" 

Then it says My Name is ___________ (She said Cortney)

I am a ____________(She said big girl) 

 This page says
I have ____________ (crazy) hair and ______________ (blue) eyes.    On our Yellowstone trip I took a picture of her when she had "Crazy Hair" and she loves looking at that picture.  In her drawing below you can see how she drew 1 blue eye, but then decided not to draw another one.

The bottom says I like to wear ___________(my swimsuit)  - she loves going swimming!

 The top says this is me with my family.  I give her points because she did draw the heads as circles, but instead of drawing the bodies down she drew them off to the side so it looks more like sperm.  I like how she drew Dad, Mom, Cortney, and Uncle Jason :)

The bottom is a picture of her home

I like this one!
The top says my favorite food is _________(she said ice cream)
the bottom says my favorite thing to do is _____________(eat ice cream)  I think she just had ice cream on her mind.  Either way Papa Kinville would be proud!

 Oh and this is a bonus picture.  I went into her room to check on her during quiet time and I found her face down on her bed taking a nap!  It is kind of hard to see, but she has her blanket wrapped around her head pretty tight.  We never really see her sleeping ever because we know after we tuck her in she gets up and plays with toys.  She does not wake up well either so we let her play with her toys before we go in and get her in the mornings so she is happier when she comes out. 

So this was during quiet time when she usually just plays with her toys - she doesn't really take naps any more.  It was a pleasant surprise to see her sleeping and I couldn't resist taking a picture!

Has it really been 4 years already??!!

We are celebrating our 4 year anniversary today!  to celebrate I thought I would post some pictures!
Here we are coming out of the temple!

 This has always been one of my favorites!

 Big group shot!  If you notice in this picture Ryan (he is in the front on the right side)  In all the other group pictures he was missing - to this day I don't think we know exactly where he was, but I like how everyone should be cheering, and instead he is just standing there :)  Love ya Ryan!

I have always liked this one

During these pictures Chris picked me up and swung me around.  I am not a fan of being picked up - not sure if you can see it in these pictures but Chris had such a fun time doing this because I was holding on to him so tight and making all kinds of little squeaks - afraid I was going to fall.

 We had our reception at my uncle and aunts house, they had a tramp in the back yard, so we had a little fun!

Ok, here it is important to know the story behind the pictures.  Chris and I had decided that we would not shove cake into each other's faces.  I didn't want to get all messy and he seemed on board.  Now looking back at the pictures - I see it in his eyes, that he has something planned...

 Here we are both gently feeding each other cake...

 I am still being gentle, but he is now shoving it in my mouth and up my nose...

 So I decided to smear it all over his face!

 I was blowing cake out of my nose for a couple days, and later that day I found a little surprise that a nice size chunk had fallen down inside the front of my dress.

 Our car was decorated...Just so everyone knows the paint is only for the windows - when you put it on the body of the car - it never really goes away.  Here we are 4 years later and if you get the right light you can see the hearts and smiley faces still.

 They also filled our car with balloons, rice and beans.  At first we were a little annoyed at the rice and beans, I mean who opens a bag of rice and beans and throws it in your car?  But after a couple years had passed it has started to become a game of who can find another bean.  We started collecting them and now we have a small jar with little beans in it.  To this day we still find a bean every now and then, and it reminds us of our wedding day!

Now it has been four years!  Nine months after we were married we found out we were pregnant with our little miss Cortney, and nine months after that we got to meet her, and we just love our little family!  We have had some fun adventures together, and are looking forward to many more!  Happy Anniversary Chris!  I love you, love me!