The Stansfields

Birthday Bash

2011-12-31T09:18:00.001-07:00

This year for Allie's birthday we let her have a party. This is the first year throwing one. It was so much fun! She had never asked to have one before, but apparently after attending a hundreds of other parties for her friends, year after year, it occurred to her that she might like to have one as well. She decided it should be an all girl party, which was a hard decision given that many of her best friends are boys. It was her call, and I think they had a great time. She has such sweet wonderful little friends. We started setting up the inside of the house, but then it was 80 degrees outside, and we just had to take advantage of a beautiful day so we relocated outside. We had a three legged race treasure hunt, pinata, balloon popping, every one made Wuggle Pets, and played several games with them. Cake, ice cream, presents, the works. It was a blast. Turning six is pretty amazing.

Allie turns SIX!?!

2011-12-29T21:50:00.004-07:00

When you're five, turning six, how awesome is it to spend a few days at Disneyland with your Grandparents? Super awesome! Danny had to work, so I packed up the kiddos and made the drive out to California to meet up with my parents at Disneyland. OK first of all, it was super fun. I love Disneyland, anytime, all the time, but for future reference: NEVER go to Disneyland the week between Christmas and New Years. The lines for all the good rides was 90 minutes, and the crappy rides were like 40 minutes. After hours and hours of waiting in line, Lily and I sneaked in the exit of the Matterhorn. I didn't even feel bad about it. There was no way that I was going to spend close to two more hours waiting for a 2 minute ride. But really we had a great time. I was so glad that my parents came all the way out there to spend time with us at our favorite place. We missed Danny, but he would have been hating life being there with those crazy lines. I was so glad to be there with my adorable kiddos and celebrate Allie turning SIX!! The kids didn't even seem to mind or notice how crowded it was, they just enjoyed it.

Lily and Grandma Glo on the Toy Story ride

Dylan was his usual rowdy self so here is Grandma trying to entertain him for 2 seconds

Dylan loves Papa

My cute parents

Picnic on Main Street right after the busiest most crowded parade ever.

Yes, Hilary, it happened. We went on the Dumbo ride, without you. Again.

It's A Small World ALLLLLLL lit up for Christmas.

Thanks Mom and Dad for coming out to spend time with us! We had a great time, and hope you did too!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T17:07:00.002-07:00

How awesome is Christmas? We love Christmas around here, and really get into it. The day after Thanksgiving, we set up the Christmas tree, start playing the Christmas carols, get the lights up, and start celebrating. There are always so many fun parties, events, and things to do, that there's no way I can include it all, but these are a few of my favorites. We had a great time with my sister in law Molly, and her six kids visiting. We made these killer gingerbread trains, and basically just had a blast for a week while they were here.

Allie had a dance recital, and I was so proud of her and her friends. They did SO well, and her teacher put on an amazing show. I had no idea it would end up being one of my favorite things of the season! Allie is in the back row on the right.

A fun Christmas Eve hike with a few friends, then back to our house for lunch.

Excited girls waiting for Santa

Santa came!

Dylan's favorite gift (other than his basketball hoop which is just awesome!) was this bear that Allie got for him. He loves it every chance he gets.

We had a great holiday. The day after Christmas everything gets packed away for the next 11 months. We like to get ready for the next big holiday at our house. ALLIE'S BIRTHDAY!

Elves to the Rescue

2011-12-20T13:41:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas!

Halloween 2011

2011-12-20T13:20:00.000-07:00

I seem to be getting further and further behind in my blogging, and I always seem to be cramming stuff in at the last part of the year. So lets pretend Halloween was just last week. WOW wasn't Halloween so fun just barely?? I am still feeling sick from all the candy. Wow. Anyway Halloween was AWESOME as always. Parties, parties, parties, tons of excuses to eat candy and dress up. The kids dressed up like the characters from Princess and the Frog. Princess Tiana, Louis the alligator, and a Princess Froggy. Our neighborhood was once again off the hook. Tons of food, people, movies, music, etc. Good times. Allie had a costume parade at school which was so fun to go to and see all the kids all dressed up. I helped in her classroom for the party which was fun. I remember my mom was ALWAYS helping in my classrooms growing up, and I intend on being there as much as possible for my kids as well. Lily had a little preschool trick or treat party as well, and that was super cute. A few days earlier we went to the pumpkin patch and took some pics as well. It was almost totally dark when we got there and they didn't turn out as I had hoped but there's always next year. Halloween is just so fun I love it. Pointless but super fun.

Fall Break 2011

2011-11-23T11:59:00.017-07:00

Fall break was so fun this year! We kept so busy, and it was SOOOO much fun having Allie home with us all day. We miss her when she's at school so we made the most of having her home. Danny's birthday was at the beginning of the week, so we invited some friends over for dinner and games. Danny is incapable of being serious, so he told his friend that it was a costume party, and since it was also Columbus Day, Danny told him to come dressed as his favorite ship. So, here's Ryan, always the good sport, who showed up as the Pinta.

18 kids on a trampoline is totally safe, right?

The kids playing Reverse Charades

Lily and her friend Oakley

Some of the guys playing Reverse Charades. If you haven't played it, you really should. It's a blast.

My little Mozart at the Children's Museum
Dylan and Emily playing with a wall size Lite Brite also at the Children's Museum.
A day at the zoo is always fun. Our group took up the whole train. I'd never been on the train but was glad we did it. It was of course quite hot, so it was a fun way to see a lot.

Then we went to Disneyland for four days. Totally randomly we ran into some of our really good friends from Gilbert there, who were just there for one day. That was super fun!

My two little princesses. I love how much they love Disneyland!

Lily loves the Toon Town roller coaster. I have the same picture of Allie who has not quite as thrilled of a look on her face. I think Lily will be our little daredevil.

We wished the kids had worn their Halloween costumes when we saw Shadow Man. The three of them were characters from Princess and the Frog.

Saw World of Color finally, and it was sooooo awesome. Def a must see.

It was such a fun week, I was sad to see it end. I wish we had Fall Break once a month.

Washington D.C.

2011-11-13T09:09:00.000-07:00

In September Danny had to go out to Washington D.C. for a work conference, so we took advantage of that and took all the kids with us to have a little vacation and see some family and friends while we were there. It was a short visit, but so worth it. After we arrived, Danny had to take off immediately to go to his meetings so we went to my sisters house for a few days. The first night one of my favorite people in this whole world, Carrie, came to hang out with us. It was so great to see her and I'm so glad she came out to Herndon to see us. We love you Auntie Carrie!The kids had a great time playing together. Since we don't live near family we just live for times like this where we get to see them.

Two of my beautiful nieces, Aya and Yumi.

Dylan likes Auntie Hil's house.

We went to the National Zoo. It was POURING down rain the entire time but luckily there is a lot of inside stuff. This giant fish thing didn't come out so well because of the flash but more importantly are those cute smiles on those little three year old's faces.

Lily and her new friend.

We got to see PANDAS!! My favorite!

Playing at the park

Next we went to the Museum of Natural History, which is always fun. I love how goofy the girls like to be.

Allie was intrusted with my camera and took some great shots of Hilary and I. I love my sister!

Allie with a big White House in the background

The new MLK Memorial had just opened. Super cool.

After a few fun filled days, we went over and met up with Danny at his conference. He was staying near this harbor which had this sculpture of a giant coming out of the ground. Super neat.

Then we headed to Maryland for a two day visit with Danny's sister Mindy. It was sooo fun to see where she lives, her house, town, etc. Maryland is literally one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Although it was a short trip, we had a GREAT TIME. I can't wait to go back!

Bear Lake 2011

2011-10-27T12:21:00.001-07:00

Something we all look forward to each summer is the Stansfield Family Reunion. So many people all packed into one place. This is the second year that we went to Bear Lake, which is great because there is so much to do and we have access to a GIANT house, where we all have plenty of space. 18 little cousins running around made for a lot of fun. Bear Lake is absolutely gorgeous too, and between the lake, pool, ATV's, games, talent show, great food, we never got bored, that's for sure. Thanks to all of the Utah people who went to all the effort to plan the reunion, and for everyone else for finding their way across the country to get everyone together.

Move it or lose it!

I was so proud of my girls. Lily went with me on the Jet Ski, and then Allie went tubing with me! It's so fun to be able to do adventurous stuff with your kids.

Allie getting thrown in by her uncles

These two love each other! Cute little Libby.

Lily and Charlotte

Dylan signaling "GOAL!" after one of the bigger boys scored. It was cute he sat and watched the whole soccer game and copied them as much as he could.

Fun Visit With Friends

2011-10-26T11:56:00.008-07:00

On our way up the Stansfield family reunion in August, we stopped overnight at our friends house in Springville. This family is literally one of the greatest families on the planet and we had a fun time catching up. They moved away from Arizona about a year and a half ago, and we have just not been the same since. Thanks guys for letting us spend an awesome (but short) time at your beautiful home!

Dylan got to meet a new little buddy

He is quite handsome

Lily and her best friend Emma were so happy to see each other

Caitlin is the super big sister who immediately took control of Dylan

It would appear that Allie is the oldest here, but Caitlin is a little on the shorter side, and Allie is on the taller side. She's 2.5 years older. Allie and Abby are BFF.

Strawberry Blonds Forever

2011-09-12T14:23:00.019-07:00

Last week we got to go up to Utah for a family reunion in Bear Lake with Danny's family. It was a great time, but on our way up there we got to make a few stops along the way to see friends and family. I know that this is chronologically out of order, and I apologize, but my sister is moving from Salt Lake City to Seattle AS WE SPEAK and I've been thinking about her all day, so I had to post these pictures of the absolute most adorable strawberry blond kids on the planet. Leah and Niels I love you two more than you will ever know. Monique thank you for letting us come visit you during this crazy time and I love you so much!!! My sister, she is so awesome. She's in the middle of a move, trips to the hospital for her little guy, movers coming, husband leaving early, Dad arriving, friends to say goodbye to, and she makes time for us to invade her house, orders us pizza, and chilled with us for a little while. She was so busy but she made us feel like we were so special.

Da Boys

Fun surprise was seeing my cousin McKenzie who stopped by for a minute.

Niels makes this face when you give him Eskimo kisses and it is so funny. I didn't get that good of a picture of it, but he closes his eyes, leans his head back, opens his mouth a little, and looks like he's in Heaven.

I love you guys and hope your move goes smoothly! Thanks again for having us!

Trip to Roseburg

2011-08-16T13:41:00.001-07:00

In July I took the kids to go to Oregon to visit my parents. I hadn't been in about five years, and it was so fun! My mom had just retired officially, and my dad took most of the week off, so we got tons of attention. Thanks guys for planning such a fun trip for us! The kids of course had a great time. It was fun seeing all the remodeling that my parents had done on their house. We took the kids to the park a couple of times, played in my parents GORGEOUS yard, went to some fun restaurants, played games, went to Wildlife Safari, and just spent some good quality time together. I can't wait to go back!

I must have caught Lily while she was falling down or something. Her hair doesn't normally look like she's being electrocuted.

Wildlife Safari was super fun. This buffalo rubbed his head on the window for a few minutes scratching an itch I guess.

Allie lost her first tooth while we were there. The tooth fairy came all the way to Oregon!

Dylans favorite pastime was sticking his fingers in Grandma's nose and mouth.

Somewhere I have a picture of Danny doing this very same thing, 9 years ago.

I got to see my friend Heidi and meet her awesome kids. Heidi and I grew up in the same neighborhood and were best friends. So great to see her!

Loose Tooth

2011-08-13T15:07:00.000-07:00

Being shy about showing her loose tooth.
Being proud to show her loose tooth.

My Little Butterfly

2011-08-12T09:20:00.000-07:00

Allie's first year of swim team was a blast. She learned four strokes: freestyle, breast stroke, back stroke, and butterfly. Her favorite was the butterfly, and I just loved watching her do it. Her little bum poking up out of the water was so cute. She loved every minute of swim team, and never missed a practice. She had such great coaches, and made some good friends there too. She had practice every morning at 7:45, and was always dressed and ready to go by the time I woke up. Meets were usually on Saturdays. Kind of long, but totally worth it. She got a ribbon for each stroke regardless of where she placed. I loved that she got up, got great exercise, and learned something so useful. Yay Val Vista Lakes Dolphins!!

They had a really fun post season party, where the kids all got trophies and danced and danced and danced. It was hilarious, and reminded me of junior high dances. It was a "Jungle" party, hence some of the outfits...

Dylan's girlfriend Emily

Grandma Stansfield came all the way from Hawaii to watch Allie's swim meet and come to her party. Thanks Grandma!!

First Day of School

2011-08-10T10:00:00.005-07:00

It's a little quiet around here this morning. Today was Allie's first day of Kindergarten, and Lily's first day of Preschool. So it's just me and the boy for a little while. Strangely quiet. Their first day wasn't actually as sad for me as I thought it would be. They were both so excited and happy that I guess it wore off on me and I was just excited for them too. I walked Allie to school, and as we approached the school she says "you can just drop me off here if you want to." She has always been so independent that I'm not surprised. She didn't mind that I wanted to walk her to her class, but she certainly wasn't sad to see me leave either. She was the very first patient of the year in the Nurses office though, with a blister from that loooooong trek to school. :) Then I came home and walked Lily to her school. She also didn't even notice when I left. I'm proud of my girls for being so brave and so excited for such big changes in their lives. So now I have a little more time on my hands. Catching up on my blog is one thing that I'll have a chance to do. Both of them are done at 11 though, so its just the perfect amount of time to get a few things done but not miss them too much.

California for the Fourth

2011-07-06T14:50:00.015-07:00

This last weekend for the Fourth of July holiday we went to California to go to Disneyland for 3 days, and then to the beach. So fun. We thought it was going to be packed beyond belief, and it was busy, but not as bad as we expected. We woke the kids up at 5 AM and hit the road, not telling them where we were going until they recognized it when we were pulling in to the parking lot. They are great travelers, and having several movies to keep them occupied never hurts. We really packed each day, so they had very little sleep, other than a few naps in the stroller for Dylan, and they did great! Definitely Danny and I were way more tired then they were. It was worth it though. As we got in the car at the end of each day Lily would say "Thank you for taking me to Disneyland!" in her sweet little voice. That's all we needed. We saw all kinds of kids all over the place throwing tantrums and driving their parents crazy and we were so grateful that ours were just glad to be there, and that made it fun for all of us.

Some Kids I Know

2011-07-06T14:20:00.006-07:00

Right before Dylan went to get the mop on his head trimmed up a little, I took a few pics of the kiddos. Danny was sad he'd no longer have Luke Skywalker hair, but it does look a little better now.

Lily's Three!

2011-07-06T14:15:00.000-07:00

Lily bug is my angel. I love this little person so much. She is always up for a snuggle, is so happy and SO funny. Her sense of humor is very advanced for someone so young. She cracks us up constantly. She is absolutely in love with her little brother. She loves to baby talk to him, which sometimes sounds more like a gremlin then a little girl. She loves to play barbies, color, and is really good at rhyming. Her and Allie get along very well, and the two of them can play for hours and hours without fights or injury (usually). This summer she's really mastered swimming. She will dive to the bottom of the pool a hundred times in a row if we let her. Her favorite toy to dive for is a little Donald Duck. She is still quite petite, although she is finally getting a little taller. 36 inches tall and just 26 pounds. Her little brother won't be her "little" brother for long. We are blessed to have this child in our family. We had a fun birthday party for her this year. Our neighbors joined us for a BBQ and swimming. It was of course 110 degrees so a little hot, but we're pretty used to it by now. Thank you Lily for being such a wonderful little girl!

Happy Birthday Baby Dylan

2011-07-06T14:00:00.006-07:00

Where did year go? He's one already? I don't even know how that happened. It's been great though, and we've loved every minute of it. Dylan Doo Doo (as Lily likes to call him) is an important part of our family. His main struggle in life is getting any alone time though, because if his sisters aren't mauling him (which they always are) he has to deal with his Mom, Dad, and anyone else who can get a hold of him. Everyone wants to kiss on this boy. He's a doll. Happy, relaxed, VERY busy, and definitely a BOY. That's the best way to describe it. He's just active and silly and slows down for only about 3 seconds a day when he crawls over and lays his head on my lap for a quick love, and then he's back off exploring. I love this boy to pieces.

Yummy cake that my friend Julie made for him
And he loved it!

First Day of Swim Team

2011-06-04T18:02:00.004-07:00

Swim team started this week, and it is so fun. They get great exercise and have tons of fun! It's 5 times a week, so I think they'll be ready for the Olympics after this summer...

Arizona Grand Resort

2011-06-04T17:46:00.007-07:00

We had such a fun time last weekend. We met a few other families at the Arizona Grand Resort. Way fun! There's this awesome water park, complete with wedgie inducing water slides, lazy river, wave pool, the works. The kids had a blast, to say the least. We had AWESOME food, pedicures for the ladies, and seriously such a fun time. Thanks friends for some good memories! It's great that there are so many fun things to do so close to home. I am totally overwhelmed this summer by how to even do half of the activities that are available to us. Every day there are tons of fun fun things. So far it's been an action packed summer, but hope to have some really chill relaxing days that we just play at our own pool. Lily has gotten to be a good little swimmer. She dives to the bottom of the pool over, and over, and over, and over again. Allie has started swim team at Val Vista Lakes, which she loves. Anyway this little staycation was an AWESOME way to start a fun and busy summer.

Preschool Musical!

2011-06-04T17:32:00.002-07:00

We have a graduate in the house! From preschool anyway... Allie had an awesome year at Education Station, and her teacher Mrs. Lunt will be missed. The highlights of her week were the days she got to go to preschool. She loved learning about insects, learning the alphabet in sign language, tons of great songs, got even better and reading and writing, got to do awesome crafts, grow a garden, raise butterflies and had an ant farm. Next up? KINDERGARTEN!!

Arizona Ducks Eat Tortillas

2011-06-04T17:14:00.010-07:00

My kids LOVE ducks. I don't know why, I can't stand birds to be honest. But they love feeding them. And ducks this close to the border apparently prefer tortillas. Says Lily anyway... Ole!!

We love living so close to the lakes. Even though they're man made, water's water, right? Speaking of lakes, the kids and I trekked up to Apache Lake this weekend, and joined up with Girls Camp for a few hours. How have I lived here this long and not been up there? Un-Be-Lievable. So gorgeous. Danny had to be in Las Vegas for a few days, but we're taking him up next chance we get. Love it! I'll post pictures from that shortly.

"Green Egg...and Ham"

2011-05-26T13:51:00.016-07:00

We had another great Easter this year. In continuing with the Stansfield Family tradition, we dyed Easter eggs and raced them down a hill. This year we had some our GREAT friends the Garners join us. They are the best, and little three year old Taft one fair and square. The Easter bunny also visited our house, and the kids of course loved that. What did we do on Easter before we had kids?? I honestly don't even remember. Anyway Allie has got the real meaning of Easter down by now, but it sure makes it more fun when chocolate egg laying bunnies are involved. The Easter Bunny has a strange sense of humor, hiding eggs in prickly places.

It's hard to smile when you've got a mouthful of jelly beans. But she tried.

All of the eggs for our races got great names. Danny had one that he dyed bright green and it's name was "...and Ham." I thought it was cute.

"Ooooooh!!!" Dylan's most favorite thing to say.

These two boys will hopefully one day be part of the family... if Allie and Lily play their cards right.

The racecourse. It was not until later that we looked back at pictures that we realized that the race track had some R rated graffiti painted on it. In red, by Lily... What can you say. The park we went to WAS in Mesa...

Dylan and his girlfriend Emily. She waits on him hand and food. She feeds him food and brings him drinks. All she asks for in exchange is his pacifier.

Bunch of cute kids.

Lately We've Been...

2011-05-05T14:27:00.014-07:00

Planning a Luau
(My friends held Dylan and watched the kids the entire time since Danny was out of town... Thanks everybody!)
Swinging

Getting hair cuts

Enjoying being royalty at Pre School

Eating cheese-its

Exploring far off lands

Painting bar stools

Going on bike rides

Chilling with massive bunnies

Playing with friends

Seeing our Auntie!!!
(Lucky us got to see Monique for lunch one day last week while she was in town for work.)

Nearly hitting a turtle in the car and bringing him home to swim in the pool

It was one of those days where I needed to post a few pics from my phone. I know they're not the greatest quality, but the people in them sure are. :)

You Say Goodbye... I Say Hello!

2011-05-02T16:30:00.002-07:00

Last weekend we traded in the X5 for a Lexus GX470. Lily keeps hugging it and saying "I love you white car." Allie's favorite thing about it, two separate DVD players. My favorite thing about it... everything! It was finally time for something with 7 seats, and as much as I loved the beamer, it was time for something new. We'll miss you gold car!

Sunday Afternoon

2011-04-11T13:48:00.012-07:00

Happily Ayer After

2011-03-30T11:22:00.051-07:00

My sister and her kids (The Ayers) came to visit us last week. It was soooo fun, and we were sad to see them go. The kids had a blast, and I loved having my sister for a week. We kept busy doing projects, going on adventures, swimming, and having tons of fun. Thank you guys for coming to visit! Come back soon!!!!

They went to church

They went to the park

They did dressups and danced

They jumped on the tramp

They were silly

They ate cinnamon rolls

They fed ducks

We went to the Riparian Preserve to play and see ducks and turtles

Like mother like daughter. This is for you Carrie!

The ring leader

Emi the good

Cute cousins

Mr. Handsome himself

My sister is awesome. She is pregnant and she still hauled two girls across the country to come visit.

Playing at the pool

Dylan and his personal assistant Allie, who is ALWAYS nearby

Fireworks were a fun way to spend their last night, until Allie dropped one and grabbed the wrong end trying to catch it, and got second degree burns on her fingers. She's doing better though.

Back from the Urgent Care, all fixed up.

Thanks for coming you guys! We loved having you!!!!

Dylan 0-9 Months

2011-03-25T13:55:00.010-07:00

Our little Dylan is such an important part of our family! We just would not be complete without him. He's so cute and sweet and happy. I got a new computer last month, when ours crashed suddenly. Luckily the hard drive was salvaged, and I've spent the greater part of a week transporting movies from the old computer to the new. Made me realize how thankful I am that I've been documenting these kids' lives as much as I have. (And thankful to Best Buy for saving everything!) They grow so fast. I decided to play around with iMovie and make my first video of Dylan Gard Stansfield. Enjoy!

Disneyland!

2011-03-25T13:23:00.023-07:00

Last month we met our wonderful friends the Nielsons at Disneyland for a few days. Our kids had never been, and Danny had gotten us annual passes for my birthday, so this was our first (of many) trips! It was SOOOO fun. Danny and I (pre kids) had annual passes and went a thousand times, and of course working at Disney World, I have a deep love for all things Disney. We went for three days, and the kids all had a great time. It was so fun to go and meet up with our friends who we hadn't seen for several months. All the kids got along great, as usual, but it was especially sweet for Allie to be reunited with her best friend. They were all so cute dressed up as princesses. Thanks for the memorable trip guys! We were also really proud of how well they all traveled and everything. It really encouraged us do this trip more often. This weekend for example! :) And any other weekend that anybody wants to meet us there let us know! We have to get our money's worth on these passes.

Outside their favorite ride "It's a Small World"

Loving Tinkerbell

We LOOOOVED the Aladdin Show!

Dylan and Mr. Toad

The girls loved seeing Pocahontas. She was really sweet with them.

Baby Niels

2011-02-25T10:32:00.008-07:00

I was able to go to Utah to be with my sister Monique while she had her baby. Baby Niels Andrew Heileson was born on 2/22/11 at 9:55 AM. He was 8 lbs .5 ounces, and 20 inches long. He is such a sweet little guy. Unfortunately he is having a few heart related issues, and will stay in the hospital for a little while. We were aware before he was born that he may need to have surgery to fix a few things. Thankfully everything is in fact fixable and he will be just fine in a few months. He is a beautiful boy and we're so grateful to have him in our family. My sister and her husband Marc are doing great, and are leaving the hospital today, excited to see their little two year old Leah.

Chillin' with Dylan

2011-01-18T14:41:00.007-07:00

This boy makes me so happy. Dylan Gard, I love you so much!! He is 7 months old, I can't believe how fast time goes by!

Angry Birds Season Opener

2011-01-10T15:54:00.009-07:00

Allie's soccer team The Angry Birds had their first soccer game of the season on Saturday. I was proud of her for playing so hard. Her favorite position is keeper, and she did a great job. It's so fun watching these little kids play, and I'm so glad she was up to play again this season. Her asthma seems to keep her from running for very long at a time, but she seemed to keep up with the other kids pretty well last week. Hopefully it's something she eventually grows out of. The good news is that this year she seems a little more interested in playing, and less interested in picking flowers and air soft pellets off the ground.

Mele Kalikimaka

2010-12-31T21:08:00.000-07:00

We had yet another amazing trip to Hawaii before Christmas. It was so nice to be there. We love where we live, but there's just something about Hawaii which always just seems like home. It's where it all started for Danny and I, and it'll always be so special to us. We stayed with Danny's parents, who although were not going to be having Christmas at home, spent a week decorating their house for us and making it extremely festive. They totally spoiled us, and it was soooo hard to leave. We had a wonderful time though, and the girls just love the beach. We spent a lot of time there, and Dylan spent a lot of time back at home with Grandma. There were a lot of wonderful parts of the trip, but probably the coolest was that Allie got to train dolphins at the Kahala Hotel. She had a one on one session with a dolphin trainer, who taught her all sorts of hand gestures and commands that got the dolphins jumping and spinning and doing all sorts of cool tricks. She loved feeing them the most, and she even planted a big kiss right on one of their mouths. Thanks Mom and Dad Stansfield for a wonderful experience and a very memorable trip!

Lily and Daddy watching Allie train dolphins. It was really windy...

Dylan and Grandma
Allie learning about the dolphins from the instructor whose name was also Allie. A good omen I think. Before they even start they show them on a stuffed dolphin where they can and cannot touch. Totally cool experience.

Just sitting there holding a dolphin. No biggie.

If someone can explain to me why she was totally loving this, but is scared of hermit crabs, I'd be really interested.

They made the dolphin dance. So cute.

Grandma helping Lily Bug with some yogurt.

Allie and Grandpa riding the waves at Kahana

Just to show you that Dylan really was there, he's chillin with Grandpa

Hands off ladies.

Allie took this picture. Future photographer!

Allie's FIVE??!?!!!!

2010-12-30T17:53:00.001-07:00

I don't know how it happened. I certainly did not authorize it. But, she went and did it anyway. She turned five. My baby, Allie turned five. I can't believe it. The worst day of my life is now rapidly approaching. The first day of Kindergarten. I am so dreading this day. Allie is my angel, my sweetheart, my perfect little girl, and now she's five and is going to be gone before I know it. OK I have to stop thinking about it. Anyways (said with a Nacho Libre accent of course) Allie had a great birthday. I adore this child, and so grateful for her, and for all of the great influences in her life that has made her the wonderful person that she is. Likely if you're reading this, you're one of those very people. So thanks! Just a few quick pix of the day....

After several years of spending hours making cool cakes, Allie told me that she'd rather have a cheesecake. Smart girl. We were going to go pick it out and this one caught her eye, so we went with it. Muuuuuch easier than an Elmo, Cookie Monster, Wall-E cake for someone who doesn't know how to bake (me).

Our neighbors were sweet to bring Allie some presents, and then they did fireworks in her honor. Since we can now buy fireworks in Arizona thanks to some law that just passed, they were more than eager to have an excuse to shoot off a few before New Years Eve.

I was proud of Allie, who has always been a little scared of fireworks because of the noise, was excited to do it, and with a little help from Danny did her first Sparkler! Yes she's doing it inside the garage which is probably not the safest place, right next to my car, but everyone is alive and the house is still standing.

Papa Ro, Dylan, and the birthday girl.

Allie and Grandma Glo getting matching I Heart New York socks from Auntie Hil.

The Great Zebra Sleepover

2010-12-28T17:44:00.000-07:00

Several months ago we scored this zebra tent at a garage sale. It's been a permanent fixture in the playroom, and Allie's favorite thing to play in. Zebras are Allie's favorite animal, and so it goes without saying that she was in heaven in this tent. For a while now, she and Grandma Glo had been planning a sleepover. When the night finally came, Grandma DID NOT disappoint. She came prepared with cute zebra jammies, zebra pillows, and packed up the zebra suitcase full of treats and activities for the sleepover. Allie had a blast. There are few things better than sleepovers, but even fewer than a zebra themed sleepover. They both put on their headlamps, got out their books, read to each other, chatted, ate fruit snacks, and had a good time. Thanks Mom for making such a fun memory!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-26T18:02:00.001-07:00

What an awesome Christmas we had this year. It all kind of started when we went to visit Danny's parents in Hawaii. They weren't having Christmas at home, but since we were coming, spent a week setting up all of their Christmas decorations and made their house so unbelievably festive for us. We came home, were lucky enough to have my sister Monique and her daughter Leah visit for a few days, and then we it was Christmas! Christmas with kids is just so fun. It's so wonderful explaning the true meaning of Christmas, and this year we got the message across even better by acting out the Nativity in our music video. If you haven't seen it, check it out. Santa came and spoiled us this year, but more than anything we just enjoyed being together, and having a fun and relaxing day together. I'm so excited because Danny surprised me by getting me a new camera, which I've been wanting for a while now, but seriously had no idea he was actually going to get it for me. Yay!

Lily helping Danny set up the Christmas tree. I know I'm from Oregon, and it's against the rules to NOT go cut down your own tree, but this fake was has been going strong now for 6 years.Awww. Love these kids. Dylan looks kinda sleepy, he had just woken up in time for the picture.

Dylan guarding the presents.

New jammies listening to "The Night Before Christmas"

Santa came!

Sisters helping little bro open up his present from his Auntie Moey.

"SNOW WHITE PEZ!!!" You woulda thought it was a new car, she was so excited.

The Grand Finale, a new trampoline from Grandma and Grandpa Stansfield. The kids weren't out 3 minutes on that thing before half the neighborhood was over jumping on it. They were crawling over the fence the minute they heard the action.

My happy girls.

"The Show" - Christmas Music Video 2010

2010-12-14T01:34:00.002-07:00

Just the Five of Us

2010-12-01T10:46:00.007-07:00

Thanks Michelle!

Happy Veteran's Day

2010-11-15T17:09:00.003-07:00

It's a few days late, but I wanted to give a shout out to my father in law, Randell Stansfield. Not only is he the greatest father in law I could have ever asked for, a wonderful grandpa, and amazing friend, but a retired colonel in the United States Army. He served our country for thirty years, and in this season of feeling grateful for things, this is one thing that certainly tops the list. My brother in law Steve is currently serving in the Army, along with my best friend Carrie, serving in the Air Force. Thank you guys for all you have done and continue to do to protect this wonderful country that we live in.

Climbing Trees

2010-11-15T16:33:00.028-07:00

This weekend Allie wanted to climb trees with Danny. I wanted to take pictures. So we combined the two activities. We had a very fun and relaxing weekend though. Didn't have any plans and just spent time together and enjoyed not having anywhere that we HAD to be.

The men in my lifeWe brought the tripod and only took a couple of pictures of the five of us. Everybody is actually looking! Allie is being patriotic in honor of Veterans Day.
Lily was given the responsibility to hold on to Dylan
Seconds later we realized that she's two and shouldn't be trusted. Here's Dylan plummeting to the rocky ground below, and was caught by Danny with his head literally a 1/2 inch from the ground.He forgave us quickly and got back to being cute.
Mommy loves her boy

Danny and the three amigos
Lily's flying

I like to call this one "Dad jumps from tree while daughter holds on for dear life".

I love you too, Allie
Me and my good buddy

Danny is so brave.

Is it to early to Elf Myself??

2010-11-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

Nope!

Halloween Twenty Ten

2010-11-01T14:42:00.010-07:00

Halloween was a blast this year. I always love Halloween, but it's just more and more fun the more kids we add to the mix. This year we did a theme for the kids' costumes. We had Alice in Wonderland, the Cheshire Cat, and the White Rabbit. Allie's been wanting to wear her Alice dress for a while now, and we have a perfect bunny costume that Lily was going to wear, but when we starting trying to find a Cheshire Cat costume for Dylan, my neighbor found the pink jammies, but they only had it in Lily's size. So Dylan got to wear Allie's first costume, the bunny costume, and we were all set. Our neighborhood once again went all out for Halloween. We carved pumpkins a few nights ago, and then on Halloween night they put the projector screen up and we watched movies, ate great food, and had a good time. We are lucky to have such great friends. The weather was beautiful as usual, and although it was the coolest day of the week it was still around 75-80 in the evening. Perfect. We also went to a Trunk-or-Treat at our church which was super fun, and of course hit up the Halloween party at the clubhouse where "the real" Elmo was there. Lily about died of excitement.

Yes, we're always this happy. Isn't everybody? We had actually just bonked heads right as I was about to take this picture. I love this boy.

Here is Allie and Owen, AKA Alice and Scary Zombie Guy, watching Monsters vs. Aliens out in the middle of the cul-de-sac

I was just not lucky enough to get a picture with all three looking and smiling. Something I'm discovering is nearly impossible.Headed to the party at Val Vista Lakes Miss Allie getting ready to carve pumpkins (a word she can now sound out and spell)

Danny carved a cool pumpkin this year, it was a little devil baby. It looked a lot like ASU's Sparky. Some of the neighbors carving pumpkins with us

Super cute Lucy is so creative

Pumpkin Patch Pals

2010-10-22T15:42:00.018-07:00

Thank you kids for being so great so I could take pictures of your cute faces today. Thank you Danny for being so awesome and helping us so much. Thank you Arizona for being so warm and beautiful. Thank you farmers for the great pumpkin patch. Thank you whoever for whatever the reason is that we celebrate Halloween.

A Few Pics of the Fam

2010-10-20T13:44:00.007-07:00

We had some family pictures taken at our reunion in Utah in August. I wish we had some that had everybody looking at the camera, but with three little kids, I guess that's not very practical. I'm hoping to get back into photography a little more. I love taking pictures of the kids, and just haven't spent as much time working on it as I'd like. My sister got her family pictures done the other day and they turned out so amazing and it just made me realize how much I enjoy taking pictures and how I REALLY want to be good at it. It's not something I want to do professionally at all, just for a hobby, but I have a renewed desire now to give it more time. Things are calming down more now, we're kind of in the groove of this whole 3 kids thing, and so my goal for this upcoming year will be to make more time for my hobbies and interests, along with my duties of being a mom to the three best kids in the world. I think for stay at home moms it's easy to get wrapped up in all the things that are involved with kids and keeping up with the house. Sometimes I forget that I have (or once had) other interests and goals and priorities that are not realated to kids. For me, my main priority is my family, no doubt, but I'm going to make more time for my other interests as well. This will probably mean that laundry may stack up a bit (more), or dishes won't get done right away, but I'm sure it will help me feel more fulfilled than keeping up on those chores do. I love how in this picture Lily is holding Dylan's hand. She adores her little brother, and he's becoming more and more tolerant of her 'over loving' these days.

Monster Mash

2010-10-13T10:39:00.006-07:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Danny's 10-10-10 Birthday

2010-10-11T10:54:00.006-07:00

For a few years now Danny's been excited about his birthday that was going to occur on October 10th, 2010. I knew that I had to do something memorable for him. Several months ago I conspired with his 3 brothers and his dad to travel to Arizona and surprise him for his birthday. It worked out perfectly. Danny had no idea, and it was so fun to see him so shocked and so happy his family was here. Danny's dad arrived earlier in the day, and I went to the "gym" in the morning (by way of the airport) and he came walking in on Danny while he was checking his email. That afternoon the three of us went Indoor Skydiving, which if you haven't done it, you have to. It's a blast, so fun. Kinda tricky, but definitely an adventure. Here's a little video of us. It's just from my little camera and so I ran out of room on the memory card taping Danny, so there's not too much of him, but he was REALLY good at it. Like really good. Me, not so much, but it's still fun.

Danny, my father-in-law, Randell Stansfield, and I,outside the wind chamber.

Then later that evening Danny's brothers who had driven from Utah all day showed up at our front door. I'm so grateful they all made the trip, and it was SO much fun having those guys here for the weekend. The hiked, we played volleyball, went swimming, played games, hung out, and just had a good time. Sunday, Danny's actual birthday, was Dylan's baby blessing (which had been planned, he just didn't know his family would be participating). It was a great day. It was Danny's birthday last year that I found out I was pregnant, so it was neat that he was blessed exactly one year later.

Happy birthday Danny! Hope it was a good one!

Bear Lake or Bust

2010-09-22T15:03:00.014-07:00

Last month we were lucky enough to spend a week at Bear Lake, Idaho. Ok if you haven't been, you have to go! It was BEAUTIFUL! My brother in law Nate hooked us up with the most amazing house overlooking the lake, and he organized an extremely fun Stansfield family reunion. We had a blast. We had ATV's that we cruised around on, went out on the boat, played at the fun clubhouse, ate a ton, played games, and just hung out. It was so much fun, and thank you thank you thank you to everyone for coming and for those of you who planned and did all the work, we really appreciated it and had a blast. I was lucky to marry into such a great family. I took probably 900 pictures at the reunion, mostly of all the gorgeous kids, but since I can't post them all now, I'll just do a few. Family: you will have to wait to see the rest on next year's video. :)

Allie's "Brother-Cousin" Stephen who she thinks she's marrying. If he says "no" she plans on marrying Dylan. Stephen is a total goofball and like all of her cousins SOOOOO sweet to my girls.

Some super cute boys

Allie and Danny riding the ATVs. Danny's practicing good parenting skills by making sure he is properly protected while on a dangerous vehicle.

Allie and Libby. Libby's expression and pose cracks me up. She's a princess.

You're right, there has never been a cuter picture. Ever.

My little Lily Bug

Some good looking kids. They must have hot parents.

Lately I've Been...

2010-09-14T14:43:00.004-07:00

So the last couple of weeks have been productive. I took on yet another extremely large painting project at my house. Painting interior paneled doors. I thought I'd do the downstairs one day, and the upstairs the next day. I suppose I forgot to remind myself that I have three kids to also take care of, and 7 days later I finally had the downstairs done. I don't have it in me right now to do the upstairs, so it will have to wait. It looks a lot better though, so that's good. Dylan is three months now. There has never been a boy that received as much attention as Dylan does. He has his sisters attention CONSTANTLY. I just had to laugh because yesterday we gave him a bath and afterwards Allie, Lily and I were all giving him a full body massage and he was just loving it. He's quite the ladies man. He's gotten very smiley and is quite happy. He's starting to sleep longer, which makes me happy as well. Allie has become my #1 helper. She takes care of Lily non-stop. She takes her to the bathroom, washes her hands, gets her dressed in the morning, brushes her hair, gets her ready for bed, and everything in between. I don't know how many four year olds that actually make their mother's lives easier, but she certainly does. She's always running up and down the stairs getting things for me, taking care of Dylan, and never hesitates to do anything I ask her to do. I'm not sure I'll be able to give her up to the Gilbert school system next year. She, however, is quite ready to go to kindergarten, and is thoroughly enjoying her preschool. Lily is such a happy little girl. I hate to say it out loud but she may be 'out' of the terrible twos already. Not sure, it could turn around at any time I'm sure. She is very talkative, and several times a day she says "Mommy, es what?" (Mommy guess what?) When I say "What Lily?" she says, "I of ooo!" (I love you!") Needless to say that makes my day and she can get or do whatever she wants ever, as long as she keeps that up. I've been trying to exercise as much as I can. I'm ready to lose my "Dylan weight" now, so any chance I get I try to do something active. We've been swimming a lot, playing with friends, and just overall keeping busy. I've started having the girls help me in the kitchen, which has turned out to be more fun and less disastrous than I predicted. They help me load and unload the dishwasher, and anytime I am making something that requires measuring cups and stuff they pull up their stools and take turns helping me. Allie cracks eggs like a pro, and Lily's very careful pouring and mixing. It's been fun. I've had a renewed interest in photography as well. Maybe it's because Danny has offered to get me a new camera soon, or maybe it's because I have a cute new baby to take pictures of. Whatever it is it's been fun, and I'm finally really learning how to operate my camera. Only has taken me 4 years. Not bad. Sounds like my "me time" is up. Dylan is not so calmly asking for my attention, so I'd better go.

The Johnsons Do Park City

2010-08-27T14:38:00.013-07:00

A few weeks ago we were able to go up to Park City Utah for a few days and spend some time with my family. So fun. We were were lucky to use my brother in law Marc's sister's cabin, and it was so so so nice. It was a great change of pace, and we had fun playing games, checking out Park City, shopping a little, going on the gondola at The Canyons, and just hanging out. In true Johnson form, there was a surprise guest, as Hilary, who we thought was unable to come, brought Emiko, and showed up at the house. The doorbell rang, and there was Emi in a basket on the porch, with Hilary hiding under the porch. Our family has a history of such surprises, so we should have known it was coming, but we didn't. It was great to spend time with everyone, but missed Nate and Yumi, who stayed back in Virginia.Grandma Glo with Allie and DylanUsDaddy and Dylan. I love this picture.Sisters and KidsLily and her DaddyMiss Allie BrookeAllie ALWAYS helps her sisterEmi the goodI love these people

Has it Been a Month Already?

2010-07-12T16:48:00.006-07:00

Dylan's doing awesome, and I finally have a baby who is gaining weight normally. 50th percentile! Lily is finally in the 5th percentile and we're just relieved she's finally on the charts. Dylan's nine pounds today, and healthy as can be. I love this little guy! He's getting very close to smiling, I saw a hint of one today. He is very cuddly, patient with his extremely excited older sisters, and cute beyond words. Allie says in her prayers that she's thankful that we got the best baby ever made. She also said "please bless Heavenly Father that he will be safe." That's one of those ones that you gotta bet the man upstairs chuckled at. Anyway things are so great and I can't get over how much I love having a little boy!

My Handsome Little Man

2010-07-07T11:33:00.006-07:00

Lily Lou is Two!

2010-06-30T15:19:00.007-07:00

Well three and a half weeks of company is now over, as Danny's Dad left today. It's been GREAT having so much help, and I'm bummed we have to kind of get back to normal life now, but it'll probably be good too. At some point we need to learn to take care of these three kids by ourselves. Thank you to both Dannys and my parents for spending so much time here and helping us SO MUCH!!

Four days after Dylan was born, we celebrated Lily's second birthday. We just love this little girl so much. She's such an important member of our family, and we are so lucky she's ours. She has a very cute little personality. She is extremely stubborn, extremely loving and affectionate, and loves playing with Allie. She is contantly mauling Dylan with kisses, and is embracing her 'big sister' role very well. Her favorite things right now are Sponge Bob, Elmo, Wa-Wa (Cinderella), coloring, and riding her bike. She's a sweet little girl and we love her so much. Happy birthday baby girl!Lily had a little birthday party and was spoiled with all things Sponge Bob. Our neighbors all showed up to give Lily lots of love and attention.

Welcome to the World Dylan Gard Stansfield

2010-06-18T16:27:00.005-07:00

Dylan Gard joined our family on June 12th, 2010 at 5:13pm. He weighed 6 lbs 15 oz, and was 20.5 inches long. It was a relativly easy labor. I went in to be induced and was started around 9:00am, and then about 8 hours later with very little happening he was all of a sudden very ready to come. Once my doctor arrived I began pushing. Four pushes and about 2 minutes later he was born! The very coolest thing about it was that as he was coming out, the doctor asked me if I wanted to finish pulling him out. He was about a 1/3 of the way out and I got to finish. Wow, what an amazing experience. I will never forget it. Danny a good job cutting the cord, and everything went as planned. Dylan is healthy as can be, and I'm feeling pretty good. My parents have been here the whole time, and have been an incredible help. They've played non-stop with the girls, helped a ton at night, and have done a bunch of household projects that were needing to be done. Thanks Mom and Dad for everything! Everyone is happy, the girls are thrilled about their baby brother. I'll post more pictures soon of course, but wanted to get a few out there so you could see our little prince. We are just in love with him. I didn't know what to expect, having only the two girls and thinking that girls are just the best, but now I see what you moms out there love about your boys. There's just something different, and incredible, and I could not possibly be any happier. I love you baby boy!

Last few days of normalcy

2010-06-08T12:37:00.017-07:00

So it's been hot here, like super hot, but that hasn't kept us from getting out and enjoying our last few days as a family of four. We love AZ, even in the summer, but summer is officially here, and it's not leaving for probably 5 months. So glad we've got a pool to keep us sane.

Lily and her buddy Emma enjoying some circus animal cookies. These are like my all time favorite.

Allie and Abby by the pool

Danny demonstrating his skills at diving through one of the girls' little floating tube things. I decided to NOT try doing this as I'm not so thin around the mid section these days...

Last night Allie and Abby had a sleepover. I've never heard two girls ask so many times how soon they can go to bed. They had fun all evening but the best part was getting to sleep in the playroom I guess.

Lily, Danny, and a big boot in Old Town Scottsdale.

Me, today. Four days to go!

Allie's in heaven now that Lily will play dressups with her now. They come downstairs and Allie's got Lily all dolled up, it's really cute.

Allie and her favorite person on earth

Da Girls

We went to the Peach Festival, which was really fun. Lots of things for the kids to do, live music, etc. Good way to spend a 100+ degree day... ;) It was hot, but we were so glad we went.

It's Almost Baby Time

2010-05-28T06:23:00.004-07:00

Well, 2 weeks and 1 day until the craziness begins again. I'm scheduled to be induced the morning of June 12. We are really excited. It's going to be interesting this time around, having a boy. I don't even know what to expect. Anyone with any advice on boys I'd appreciate it. It seems like our entire house is filled with pink things, so I guess this will be good to balance it out a little. We're just getting excited to meet our baby Dylan. Lily's excited about the Sponge Bob outfit that she picked out for him, and Allie can barely contain her excitement. She's done well, since we told her on Christmas we were having a baby, she's been very patient, but she is certainly baby crazy. I have to be careful about that one, she talks about being married and having babies way too much. I keep telling her she has to be a lot older, and she thinks that means like seven.

In other news, I'm a little disappointed in the series finale of LOST. It was just ok. I'm not sure what I was expecting, and should have known how difficult it would be to wrap it up in a way that everyone would be totally satisfied... but still. Their biggest fans, Danny and I, were not thrilled. What did you guys think?

Happy Mothers Day!

2010-05-27T15:17:00.002-07:00

I know Mother's Day was several weeks ago, and I personally was spoiled as usual from my sweet family. I was awakened by The Mother's Day Fairy, (Allie) who was wearing a Cinderella dress and fairy wings, and Danny wearing a Snow White dress.... oh wait, no, he was in is pajamas still... but he had prepared a great breakfast for me. They surprised me with a sweet new camera and a new patio furniture set for our pool area. The whole day they made me feel very special, and I love them. I honestly feel like Mother's Day is my favorite holiday, because it represents the accomplishment that I am most proud of. My family and darling girls. There is nothing that I am prouder of, and happier to be a part of.

Recently my friend forwarded me this great email. I loved it. Obviously it's written by a woman, probably after having an unsually hard day, but still had enough wit to come up with this. I know that men and fathers have extremely hard jobs as well, but since this is a Mother's Day post, I wanted to give a shout out to all you mothers, or soon to be mothers out there, to let you know that you are amazing, and deserve a lot of credit for what you do. It's not an easy job, and I hope that you were spoiled on our special day, like I was.

THE NEXT SURVIVOR SERIES

Six married men
will be dropped on an island
with one car
and 3 kids each
for six weeks.

Each kid will play two sports
and take either music or dance classes.

There is no fast food.

Each man must
take care of his 3 kids;
keep his assigned house clean,
correct all homework,
complete science projects,
cook,
do laundry,
and pay a list of 'pretend' bills
with not enough money.

In addition,
each man
will have to budget enough money
for groceries each week.

Each man
must remember the birthdays
of all their friends and relatives,
and send cards out on time--no emailing.

Each man must also take each child
to a doctor's appointment,
a dentist appointment
and a haircut appointment.

He must make one unscheduled and
inconvenient visit per child to the Emergency Room.

He must also make cookies or cupcakes
for a school function.

Each man will be responsible for
decorating his own assigned house,
planting flowers outside, and keeping it
presentable at all times.

The men will only have access to television
when the kids are asleep and all chores are done.

The men must shave their legs,
wear makeup daily,
adorn themselves with jewelry,
wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes,
keep fingernails polished,
and eyebrows groomed

During one of the six weeks,
the men will have to endure severe
abdominal cramps, backaches, headaches,
have extreme, unexplained mood swings
but never once complain or slow down
from other duties.

They must attend weekly school meetings
and church,
and find time at least once to spend
the afternoon at the park or a similar
setting.

They will need to read a book to the kids each night
and in the morning,
feed them,
dress them,
brush their teeth and
comb their hair
by 7:30 am.

A test will be given
at the end of the six weeks,
and each father will be required to know
all of the following information:
each child's
birthday,
height, weight,
shoe size, clothes size,
doctor's name,
the child's weight at birth,
length, time of birth,
and length of labor,
each child's favorite color,
middle name,
favorite snack,
favorite song,
favorite drink,
favorite toy,
biggest fear,
and what they want to be when they grow up.

The kids vote them off the island based on performance.

The last man wins only if...
he still
has enough energy
to be intimate with his spouse
at a moment's notice.

If the last man does win,
he can play the game over and over and over
again for the next 18-25 years,
eventually earning the right
to be called Mother!

After you get done laughing,
send this to as many females as
you think will get a kick out of it and
as many men as you think can handle it.
Just don't send it back to me....

I'm going to bed.

Big News for Little Girls

2010-05-13T20:45:00.007-07:00

In the last week we've had some exciting developments in our family. First of all our Allie Brooke learned to ride her bike without training wheels. It took all of 4 seconds for her to pick it up. The very first try after I took off her training wheels she was off. I ran along side her for a few seconds but she's fast, and I'm pregnant, so I just hoped she wouldn't fall. A little while later when Danny came home he showed her how to start on her own, without a push start from one of us, and again, the very first try she got it. She's a brave girl, and I'm proud of her for wanting to learn and not being scared.

The second big thing for us is for our Lily Lou. Notice in the picture below she is now sporting Princess panties. Yep! My little girl is potty trained.I started working with her on Monday, which was a pretty lousy day, but each day has gotten better, and today, day four, was perfect. No accidents. She's very proud of herself, and even made it through her nap without a hitch. This was about how long it took Allie to really get it down, however Allie was probably 4-5 months older than Lily is now. Also, Lily's just been a little slower at things, like getting her first tooth (16 months), walking (17 months) growing (she just barely reached 20 pounds so I get to move her out of the infant car seat starting tomorrow!!) I just decided that since I've got five weeks before Dylan comes, I might as well give it a shot, but was pretty hesitant since she won't be two for another month, and she obviously does things at her own speed. I hadn't planned on trying before Dylan was born, but after talking to a friend and remembering how time consuming it is for those first few days, I realized it would be a lot harder with an infant in the house, so I'd better just buckle down and do it.

So all in all it's been a big week for us. I'm really proud of Allie who is reading really well and learning so much right now. Danny's business is going really well, and I'm proud of him for achieving what he's wanted to do since the day I met him. Lily just is adorable, and has gotten really good at saying "please" and "thank you". Probably 9 times out of 10 when somebody gives her something or helps her with something she says "thank you" without being told to. It's especially adorable because there is always this little pause in between it that just gets me every time. She'll say "thank you.... mommy", and it just cracks me up. Life is good.

A Little Redecorating

2010-04-30T15:31:00.012-07:00

Last month Danny's Mom came into town, and we tackled a much needed decorating project. When we moved here from Utah we got rid of so much furniture so we could fit into our little rental that we had before we bought our house, that when we moved here we had quite a bit of unoccupied space. The living room had absolutely zero furniture in it for the first 6 months that we lived here. I kept saving it for a time that she could come out to visit and we could work on it for a few days. She's a great decorator, and it turned out to be a very fun project. In three days we turned our living room from this:Into this:We had fun going all over Phoenix rounding up everything to complete this room. I painted a few cucumber green accent areas too, which turned out great, and go really well with the rest of the room. We started out at Ikea, thinking we found all kinds of great things, but then we went to Pier One, and totally changed the theme and style of the whole room. We did pick up that couch at Ikea though, and it was funny cause we were positive it was brown, as it was advertised as brown, but then we got it home and it turned out to be more of an 'eggplant' color. We were soooo nervous as we'd picked out the curtains, chairs, that chest, etc... but it turned out to match totally perfectly. Brown would have actually clashed quite a bit, so it was awesome. Anyway we were so proud of ourselves for conquering this room in such a short amount of time, with two little girls in tow. Thanks Mom Stansfield for all of your help! This was an extremely fun project to work on with you!

After spiffing up the living room, I was really ready to make some changes in the kitchen. When we moved in we had upgraded the appliances, but I was still unhappy with the cabinets. We debated what to do, as they were in very good condition, just weren't crazy about the color. I knew we'd never do a very good job painting them, and that it would take us weeks, if not longer, to paint them. So we decided to hire someone to do them, and are so glad we did. What would have taken us forever, took them about 3 hours, and our kitchen went from this (before we moved in):To this:To THIS!

We are very happy with it. I knew that going black would be kinda risky, but we loooooove it and are so glad that we decided to paint, as opposed to replacing them all together.

We've done a few other things here and there. I painted baby Dylans room Carolina Blue, in support of Danny's Tarheels. We got a giant area rug that fills up the entire family room, making it much cozier, as opposed to the smaller not so cozy rug we'd had there before. There are always tons of projects, but we're excited with what we've gotten done so far.

Open Up Your Pants?

2010-04-14T16:00:00.010-07:00

Danny reminds me that I forgot to mention a funny Allie moment the other day. We're driving somewhere, and Allie's singing Jason Mraz's song "I'm Yours" on the top of her lungs, and she gets to the line:

"Well open up your mind and see like me

Open up your plans and damn you're free"

And she goes... "Guys? How come it says 'open up your pants?'" (instead of open up your plans...) Ok so we about died laughing. By the way she doesn't say "damn" so don't worry. She says "man". :) Anyway it's just funny hearing your totally innocent four year old say such a funny thing.

This is actually my favorite version...

Easter Weekend Part Tres

2010-04-14T14:16:00.032-07:00

If you've made it through the first two installments of my family's easter weekend, and have come back for the third, I know you REALLY love me. Really these pictures are for the benefit of my family (by the way sisters: some are kinda grainy for some reason but if you click on them you should be able to save them and hopefully they will look normal). Please enjoy the final pictures of our fabulous weekend.

My mom, Gloria
Danny leading the annual Stansfield Family Easter Egg Rolling Contest. (I won!)

Emi cheering me on.

Emiko

Happy Lily Bug (Allie by the way informed my neighbor upon being asked that "Bug" was Lily's middle name.)

My sweetie and I dying eggs.

Allie and her daddy dying eggs

Dad, Allie and I dying eggs. Don't laugh. I'm pregnant and cannot be held accountable for how I look.

Sisters

Leah was actually really happy but my camera was acting up and I didn't get one of these two in focus but they were being really cute.

About this part of the post I'm realizing how many Lily pictures I took. Who says the second child gets the shaft?

If you're looking for somebody who likes to pose for pictures, Allie's your girl.

Miss Leah Nicole who started walking today!!! Adorable Mayumi

Cousins with their Easter Egg Baskets.

Hunting for eggs

Fun Fun Fun weekend. Thank you family for coming and spending time with us. We enjoyed having you so much!!!

Easter Weekend Part Deux

2010-04-12T16:01:00.013-07:00

Over the weekend we went swimming several times at the clubhouse. Our pool is just a few degrees too cold still, but the kids enjoyed playing in the sand a lot so it was the perfect place to go.

Yumi drying off
Allie being thrown by Danny

Hil and Mayumi being cute

Monique and Leah swimming

Allie, Papa Ro, and Grandma Glo.
Lily wanted to be thrown too.

Lily says "please" by giving you the cheesiest grin you'll ever see. Here's my mom giving her raisins, and practicing Lily's manners.

Leah and her hot mom

Mayumi is such a funny little girl. She loved playing at the pool with her cousins.

Allie playing in the sand.

Monique

Easter Weekend Part One

2010-04-09T14:27:00.011-07:00

This last weekend my family came to visit. We had such a great time having them here. Hilary and her two cuties Mayumi and Emiko came first, then my parents showed up, then Monique and Leah. We spent a lot of time going on walks, swimming, playing games, eating, hanging out, etc. Not a whole lot of time sleeping, with 5 little girls in the house, but still it was way fun. I only took about 600 pictures of the week... so I'm going to have to divide up the posting a little.

Lily is a good kisser.

My parents with the girls before going inside the zoo.Sisters riding the horse. Our zoo is awesome. There are several splash parks and playgrounds throughout the place, but this is one of our favorite ones. Allie is really into "Little People".Grandma Glo and Emi the Good. Emiko is the most peaceful baby I have EVER met. Words do not describe how angelic she is. I love her so much.Lily and Papa Ro.Brushing the goats at the petting zoo.Hil and Emiko.Hilary, Mayumi, and a frog singing in the shower.What was so cool was seeing how much Lily was interested in Emi. She loved her, and was constantly snuggling up to her, kissing her, helping her with her pacifier. I had no idea how she'd interact with her new baby brother, so this was a fun sneak peek. She seems to have the same little mothering skills that Allie has.

Could I Be More Proud?

2010-03-08T15:19:00.003-07:00

Yep. That's my girl. :)

Soccer Goals, Purple Room, and Preschool

2010-02-03T14:52:00.010-07:00

What a week this has been. Things have been GREAT. We've been fairly busy, working on projects around the house, playing with friends, and trying to get some much needed exercise. Allie made her mom and dad proud last Saturday by scoring her very first soccer goal. She took a great shot, and it went right in. We couldn't have been more excited. She was pretty happy too, but Danny was dancing around the sidelines, and missed filming it cause he shot his hands (with camera in one hand) up in the air. We love our little soccer girl. Here's a short video of some highlights from last weeks game. (minus her scoring a goal...) She's #2. Go Blueberries!

I painted the girls' room purple this week, and when Allie first saw it, she gasped and said "Mom, it's PERFECT" Talk about making it worth the whole day I spent on it. They love it, and Lily likes talking to her little 'counting sheep' that I put over her crib. It's cute.

The highlight of the week has definitely been the long awaited first day of preschool. I hadn't planned on putting her in preschool this year, since she'll be too young for kindergarten this next year, I figured I'd do just one year of preschool starting next year. Unfortunately she is the ONLY one of her friends not in preschool, so this was really hard for her. Her social schedule is very full, but got really bummed whenever I said we couldn't play with a certain friend because he or she was at preschool that day. She really wanted to go, so my friend Karen suggested getting a group of us together to do a rotating preschool. There are 6 kids, so we don't have to teach very often, just once every six weeks. I'm looking forward to teaching, but also will enjoy 6 hours a week, having Allie at a friends' house learning, and me running errands with just Lily. To say Allie loves it, would be a major understatement. She talks about it non-stop, and loves all of her little classmates and the songs and pictures and games they get to do. So, so far, thumbs up!

Lily's just perpetually adorable, and her three favorite people this week are Daddy, Elmo, and Spongebob. She really never watches TV, but that hasn't stopped her from pointing out "BuBob" and "Emo" everywhere she sees them. Be it on the go-gurt packages, or her Elmo diapers, or balloons in the store, she somehow knows exactly who these characters are. I guess she gets it from Allie, but Lily really only says about 10 words or so, so it's funny that these are two of them. She makes Danny's day whenever she sees him cause she screams out "Dada!!!!" You gotta love her.

Overall things are great. Other than the season premier of LOST last night... Well it wasn't bad so much as it just gets more and more strange and although some questions were answered, I feel like, as usual, more questions arose than were answered. Of course we'll never give up on the show, and we do love it, just had hoped for something a little more conclusive. We'll hang in there... You don't invest five years of your life into something and just give up on it, right?

You're in Luck

2010-01-22T09:11:00.004-07:00

Often times, ones' day is not yet complete, without seeing the rear end of an unborn baby boy. Well folks, you're in luck. This is NOT one of those days for you. Here he is, mooning the world....(Auntie Carrie would be proud) introducing Baby Boy Stansfield. The third (and final) addition to the Stansfield Family. Due middle of June. We are all very excited. Feel free to submit name suggestions at this time.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-18T12:42:00.019-07:00

What a great Christmas we had this year. Christmas is always so wonderful, and this year we were lucky enough to have my sister Monique, her husband Marc, and their cuteness Leah join us, along with my Mom and Dad. Hilary's family was of course invited, but she was busy with a two week baby of her own, so we excused her from the festivities this year. She was missed horribly, but we were more grateful that she had a healthy little baby girl and just kept her home safe. We kicked off the festivities a month early with our tradition of setting up the Christmas tree on the day after Thanksgiving.

Everyone arrived on Christmas Eve, and Marc and Danny entertained the girls with Twas the Night Before Christmas, and the kids got to open their new jammies. No, Lily hadn't been guzzling the spiked eggnog, she just was pretty tired.

Baby cousin Leah has completely perfected the art of being cute, and was a lot of fun to have around. Adorable and pleasant and sweet as can be. We loved getting to see her and get to know her better.

Christmas morning was of course very exciting. Allie was thrilled to receive a scooter. Luckily it only took my Dad and Danny about 7 hours to assemble. Thanks guys! And thanks shoddy directions.

My sisters and I had teamed up in producing some great gifts for my parents. My dad got a stellar tie that has his first four granddaughters on it.

My Mom got a homemade quilt that Hilary assembled for us, which was broken up into four quadrants, each quadrant had 16 onsies or shirts that each individual grand baby had worn. Monique stitched a great center piece that included the girls' names and birth dates. It was a hit. Nothing beats seeing your mom cry. :)

The day after Christmas we headed out for a hike. The weather was great as usual and it felt good to work off some of that Christmas Dinner.

Lily Bug and her new favorite doggy that Papa gave her. Her and Grandma Glo really got to bond, which surprised me cause she's normally such a mama's girl, nobody else is allowed to look at her, but she did great.

Allie and her buddy Uncle Marc. He's so much fun to have around.

Cousins in the tub.

The Heileson Family. We love you guys!Thanks Mom, Dad, Monique, Marc, and Leah for making the trip out here. We loved having you, and can't wait to do it again! (With Hilary of course!!)

Video footage that Monique took of the weekend.

A Funny Mayumi and Lily Moment

2010-01-18T11:37:00.004-07:00

During a little photoshoot of the girls last April, I just thought this was a funny sequence of pictures between Mayumi and Lily. It shows their personalities really well. Yumi, a very inquisitive little girl, who likes to test her limits sometimes, starts pulling on Lily's headband. Lily then puts up with it for the most part, until she decides to just take Yumi's shoe and ignore her.

Click on the picture to enlarge for full effect.

Dr. Allie and Her First Brain Surgery

2010-01-18T11:10:00.004-07:00

Guest Blogger! My mom, Gloria Johnson, sent me this little story about an encounter between her and Allie.

-----

One of those moments that we say we should write down but often fail to do so. I couldn't let this one pass by....

While visiting in Phoenix she and 'Grandma Glo' were playing doctor. Allie was the doctor and I was the patient. She carefully examined all parts of my body declaring that I was in good health. (she didn't say, 'for an old girl'..as she recently saw a picture of Olivia Newton-John and thought it was ME) (the kid obviously gets major points from me for that one) Examining my head she looked in my left ear, I asked what she saw in there, she replied, "brains, lots of brains". I agreed that was good. She then looked in the right ear and said, "Oh dear, I don't see any brains in there". I told her I was quite concerned about that, as I really needed brains on both sides. She thought for a minute and went to the other side of the room, picked up a toy cell phone, punched in some numbers and said, "I have Grandma Glo here and she is missing some brains". "Yes", "OK", "uh uh", "OK thank you". She set the phone down and came back to my right ear and performed various maneuvers including a kiss and said, "OK Grandma Glo, you are all fixed now you have brains on this side too". I asked, "Allie who did you talk to?" the reply, "An assistant doctor".

Gloria Johnson

Proud Parents

2010-01-09T15:38:00.006-07:00

Today was Allie's first soccer game. I think Danny and I were more excited than she was, but she had a great time. Her favorite part was probably the snacks at halftime. At least there were no dandylions on the field for her to pick, and she stayed fairly focused while in the game. Her team, "The Blueberries", was so much fun to watch. We kept cheering really hard for her to kick the ball, and she did a few times. Once in particular she did one really big kick and she jumped in the air and pumped her fists into the air as if she had just won the championship. We were so proud of her for playing so hard and having fun at a game that Danny and I both love. Way to go Allie Brooke! Blueberries are 1-0!

My Baby is Four

2009-12-29T12:23:00.003-07:00

I can't believe it. Allie is four today. I remember the day she was born so clearly. It was one of the best days of my life. I love my little Allie Brooke so much. She is such a smart, sweet, loving person. She tells me about 50 times a day that she loves me, and is always giving us all hugs and kisses. She's always up for a 'nuggle', and is a lot of fun to be with. She loves learning, and is so interested in her preschool workbooks, puzzles, games, writing, drawing, reading about animals, and playing rhyming games with her Daddy and I. Every day her and Lily become better and better friends. The first thing she asked me yesterday when she woke up is "Mommy can I play with Lily??" They play together all day long, and Allie is so protective of her. If someone ever does anything to Lily that Allie feels wasn't nice she comes right to her rescue. She's an amazing helper. She helps me clean up the house, carry in the groceries, work out in the yard, clean up after her and Lily, and is always refilling our glasses whenever they are empty, without being asked. She is extremely funny and a blast to be with. She loves animals. Zebras are her favorite animal at the zoo, and loves playing with all of the dogs in the neighborhood. She is my little buddy, and I love her more than I could have ever possibly imagined. I love you Allie Brooke!

Stansfield Family Christmas Card 2009

2009-12-20T08:45:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas! We hope you enjoy our latest work of art. We had a blast filming this.

Disclaimer: No children were endangered in the making of this film. All stunts were fully supervised by "responsible" adults. Stunt double was a doll who did unfortunatly lose an arm.

What We've Been Up To

2009-12-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

This is a little catchup from the last couple of months. Fall is so great here, we were able to swim well into October. Love it. Allie after her last dance recital with Abby

Allie feeding the giraffes at Out of Africa. If you haven't been, you should go. Way fun. Totally worth the drive.
Giant obstacle course my neighbors rented for Thanksgiving. It was just out front all day, and the kids had a blast. First thing Allie came running to me saying "Mommy there's a castle outside!!!" I was like "Sure Allie... whatever..."

A self timer masterpiece

Cute girls, playing outside, loving the warm weather. It's been in the mid 70's all week.Awwwwww. We love our Lily-Bug.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-10T09:09:00.010-07:00

We all had a lot of fun this year for Halloween. We went to several events throughout the week, and the girls had a blast. Everyone in my neighborhood just sits outside their houses and hands out candy, and we had about 1000 trick or treaters. It was crazy! My next door neighbor put up a huge projection screen and showed movies, my other neighbor had a big old dinner for all the neighbors. It was fun. A lot different then our last years Halloween when we had two trick or treaters, and one of them was Allie. We love our new neighborhood, and it really made this years Halloween so much fun.

Allie, Lily, and our Pumpkin Family

Allie, Abby, and Emma at the Val Vista Lakes Clubhouse PartyLily giving Emma a little sugarUsLily is really a fan of the opened mouth kiss (who isn't?)Snow White and my Ladybug

My little Blazer Cheerleader

Hieroglyphics Trail

2009-10-27T01:04:00.008-07:00

So I was going through my camera to look at some pictures of our fun weekend, and I found this mysterious file on my memory card. One I hadn't noticed before, and upon opening it I discovered these fun pictures! Ok so this was in like July, around 6:00 of course since it's too hot much later, but we went on this fun hike with our friends and I had forgotten where I had put the pictures. So there is this trail that has ancient hieroglyphics on the rocks, and it's really cool. Crazy to think about people living trillions (trillions?) of years ago carving these into the wall.

Cute little girls

Allie and Logan climbed up a big mountain with their DaddysCool hieroglyphics all over the walls of this place.We thought about going for a swim but we forgot our swimsuits. Bummer.Ok so the kids looked ticked, but honestly I think we all had a great time.

Virginia is for Lovers

2009-10-15T08:48:00.010-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I was able to take the girls to Virginia to go visit my sister, her husband, and their a-dor-able daughter Mayumi. I hadn't been out there to visit them since they'd moved to the DC area several years ago, so I was so glad to have the chance. We had a great time, Hil's got a great house they bought last year, and the only thing that would hav been better is if I could have stayed longer. My mom came out for a couple days of my trip, and I was able to see two of my favorite people ever, Carrie and Leslie. Hil showed me the sites of her town, Herndon, we hung out and played with the girls a lot, and went into DC one day, to act like tourists for a little while. Allie still talks about how much fun it was, especially the new friends that she met.

We had such a great time, thanks Hil, Nate, Yumi, Mom, Leslie, Carrie & Corey for making an effort to spend time with us on our trip. We love you!!!

Mexicans Dressed Up Like Old Ladies

2009-10-08T11:34:00.003-07:00

Fear not bloggers, for I have returned! Yes, I know it has been two months. It's been a busy couple of months, and I won't bore you with all of the trivial details. The main thing that's been going on is after months and months and moooooonths of house hunting we finally found the perfect place, moved, and have been just trying to get fully settled. We are never moving again. I hate moving. Moving day itself is never that bad, maybe cause of all of the help we got from nice friends (THANK YOU EVERYBODY!!)and stuff, but its more the months after where random boxes full of random stuff still linger in corners of rooms and in closets. Today's task is organizing my den, which I've been putting off, and then next week I will tackle my craft room. "What?!?!" you are thinking to yourself... "Lindsay has a craft room? Wait, which Lindsay's blog am I reading?" Well it's true. Over the last little while I have tried to become more crafty, and have started to accumulate a considerable amount of stuff, so when we moved and had an extra room Danny put aside his dreams of having a "man" room and let me have it. What a guy! So anyway, stay tuned for further updates from the Stansfields. I am back.

Stansfield Family Reunion

2009-08-06T16:36:00.011-07:00

I don't even know where to start. We just got back from a fabulous 10 day trip to Hawaii for Danny's family reunion. We had a blast! I took over 1000 pictures I'm sure, but I'll just cut right to the good stuff. Family pictures. :) I can't wait to see the rest of them, but here's a start. (Molly I stole these out of your email box when it was open on the computer.) Danny's parents were generous enough to fly the entire family out there, rent us a great house to all stay in, and totally took care of us the whole time. Wow. We played a ton, we ate a ton, and all had an incredible time. Thanks Mom and Dad for everything. I can't even imagine how much time and energy that took to plan, and every single person had the time of their life. It was awesome!!!

"Oh Boy... Mom's Got a New Hobby..."

2009-07-25T14:15:00.002-07:00

Lake Powell

2009-07-14T23:00:00.014-07:00

Like everyone else I know, we made it to Lake Powell this year too. I swear it seems like every day somebody is going there, coming back, updating their blog with fun pictures, so I decided that in order to be like everyone else, I'd better go. Sooo, my sister in law Jamie was having a family reunion, so when she said we were invited of course we came! Her family is great, and we had a fabulous time. I won't post 300 pictures, just a few of my favorites. Aren't you amazed at my knee boarding skills?

Danny providing food for his family. Who needs a fishing pole when a net is so much easier?!?

Allie and two of her favorite people on this planet. Libby and Auntie Jamie.

Danny getting some air.

Me and my sleepy baby girl.

Once again, Danny found a large thing to climb, and then proceeded to jump from it. I'm starting to see a trend developing here. He's my hero. No way I was climbing up there.

Yeah... I'd say it's pretty Grand!

2009-07-13T09:07:00.009-07:00

Ok, if you haven't been to the Grand Canyon, you need to. Everyone has got to see this place, at least one in their lives. Amazing. We went a few weeks ago, and it was so incredible. My only regret was that we didn't give ourselves time to see more of it, or go hiking. Well, the girls and I didn't get to go, but that didn't exactly stop Danny. As usual, he likes to find the most dangerous thing he can possibly find, and climb it, wearing only sandals and with no equipment or anything. Strangely enough I wasn't all that scared as I was watching him do it, it was so surreal, but am more scared now as I'm looking at the 3000 pictures of him I took during his little adventure. There was a whole group of people watching him out there, captivated, not able to believe me when I said "no he's not a professional rock climber, he's just insane." I was proud of him for being so brave, but I hope he doesn't try it again.

At about this point I was hoping Danny might turn around, but no. I should have known better.

I was so relieved when I saw his little head pop up over the back side of the rock. I'm kind of glad he climbed up the back side because I think I would have had a heart attack watching him do this.This kind of shows you a better view of where he climbed. Arrow shows my crazy husband.Allie, watching safely behind the fence.Me and my girls. Picture taken by one of the many people gathered around watching the crazy guy.

Lily's First Birthday

2009-07-11T08:04:00.007-07:00

Obviously I'm quite behind, since Lilys' birthday was about a month ago. It doesn't mean we love her any less, just means I've got lots of pictures and limited time. I wanted to at least post the pictures from her Birthday Party.

This is definitely not one of my better cakes, but Allie helped me make this lady bug cake and we had a good time at least. :)

We had breakfast for dinner, and Lily got to have eggs since she's ONE!Hmmmm... cake. She had reason to seem a little skeptical. She ended up throwing it all up that night in her crib. Poor little girl.

Allie's First Dance Recital

2009-07-09T10:24:00.003-07:00

Allie had her first dance recital a few months ago but I am just now getting to the video portion. She was so cute, and did a great job. I was so proud of her.

We Looked Everywhere for LaFleur...

2009-06-29T09:19:00.007-07:00

I'd been wanting to go find the LOST Barracks the whole trip, so on one of our last days I talked Danny and his dad into going out to find it. It was totally exciting. I kept hoping that Kate or Ben would show up or something.

They actually do the filming at this YMCA camp, it's really pretty cool, and there were people (not others!) staying in the cabins while we were wandering around. We thought it was pretty funny that there was a sign pointing towards the Other's Villiage. Just in case anyone was confused....

On our way back from Kailua we drove by where the store the fuselage from LOST. Although it was covered, it was pretty exciting. I really don't know why. I am too hooked on this show, that's for sure.

Wrapping it up

2009-06-29T09:11:00.012-07:00

Ok I need to just post a few more pictures from Hawaii to be satisfied. Then, I promise, that's it. Until next month when we go back that is... We had such a great time. Thanks to Mom and Dad Stansfield for having us, feeding us amazing meals, watching the girls, playing games, and being just overall the greatest hosts ever. We loved every minute of it.

Allie and Lily playing at the beach.

Allie and Deacon bodyboarding on Grandpa Stansfield

Ka'ena PointAllie and Brooklyn became good friendsWho can resist a happy baby?Lily and Danny discussing philosphyLily, loving the beach

Baby Dentures

2009-06-19T17:17:00.004-07:00

Lily, age one, has no teeth. We have decided to have her fit with these vampire teeth. Problem solved.