Hi! My name is . . .

Lately, Esmé and Sophia have been pretending that they are other people, characters, objects, beverages, etc. They always start out with, for example, "roar . . . My name is Li the Lion," or "My name is Ariel. I'm a princess," or "I'm a bladudidoo. My name wageldiblabli." Yesterday, when we were coming back from the store, Sophia and Esmé raced to the door and waited for me to unlock it. Esmé was a little cranky at the time and so when Sophia got there first (much to Sophia's delight) Esmé yelled at her "My name is Don't Smile at Me!" I tried to tell her to be nice, but I couldn't help it, I just burst out laughing, which, I think, actually helped the situation.

Banana Chocolate Blend Disaster

For those of you who don't know, I frequent Starbucks on a fairly regular basis. They recently built one at our local Smith's Marketplace. Yea! The girls like the chocolate milk and I like the hot cocoa. Because we can't go anywhere without being stopped, we make friends with cashiers and storeworkers fairly easily. (The girls can really turn on the charm.) One of our recent acquaintences/friends is a woman named Marie who works at the new Smith's Marketplace Starbucks. She thinks the girls are fabulous and often gives us free cookies (which the girls don't really like) and the other day she gave us a whole handful of coupons for Starbucks new drink line: The Orange Mango Viviano and Banana Chocolate Viviano. Great! Free Drinks!
I don't like banana's but who doesn't like a wannabe chocolate shake, I asked myself? The girls will most definately drink this drink. Wrong!!!!

Today I used two of the free coupons for the Banana Chocolate Viviano which is a "freshly prepared drink with a whole banana, bittersweet cocoa, 2% milk, whey protein, fiber powder, and ice". Sounds good right? Well, it's not. It has potential, but it was simply not as sweet as the chocolate milk the girls have gotten too accustomed to drinking. We had a viviano revolt--Sophie was the worst. She refused to drink hers and promptly suggested that we turn around and for the chocolate milk. Tears were shed. In order to show her that it was really tasty and she really would like it, I had to drink several sips. I thought I was going to throw up in my mouth. It was all I could do not to gag! Luke warm with banana! How could this get any worse? After a few more sips Esmé proclaimed, "I tried it and I like it!" (Good for you Es! Most of us with better developed taste buds wouldn't feel quite the same way.)


The worst part of this drink debacle was that the lids of the drink we not secure! Three year olds with chocolate banana vivianos with unsturdy lids? D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R! We made it most of the way home with the drink lids still on, but by the time we reached 9th South...Sophie's little voice said, "Mom, I spilled a little bit." "Uh Oh." "How bad is it?" (Not terrible, but not great--just an outfit change--no harm done to the car.) Esmé made it all the way home without the lid coming off. I pulled into the driveway and jumped out of the car and put the "viviyucko" into the drink holder on her door. Mistake! As I was cleaning Sophie up, Esmé kicked her banana chocolate blend out on the driveway. Most normal drinks with sturdy lids would have survived the short fall without any problem--but not this shody product. So, Marie, thanks but no thanks on the new free Viviano drinks. Anyone want our extra coupons?

Heber Creeper

Just another day at the Heber Valley Railroad, complete with train whistles.

Ever the adventurer and haver of fun, my mom had a great idea to take a train ride with the girls one Friday afternoon this summer. The original thought was to take the Heber Creeper train ride and then float down the Provo River through scenic Provo Canyon. But due to the cost and the length of time for the train ride, we decided to take a shorter ride up to Soldier Hollow through scenic Heber. When we got to Soldier Hollow, the train had to switch tracks. On the way back we moved to one of the inside cars and kept a little cooler.

As you can see by Esmé's hair, it was a hot day in a train thatwas built before the days of air conditioning. The water behind Es is a little lake between Midway and Heber. Look how blue her eys look with the shirt and the water. I love the hair too.
Sophie enjoyed the trip. I brought their "pooh blankets" as the train ride was during naptime and wanted to minimize any problems due to tiredness. Of course with Sophie, if the blanket is anywhere within eyesight she wants to cuddle up with it. The train trip was one of the hottest days of the year in July and there was Sophie sweating with her "pooh bear blankee."

Above are the railroaders: Es, Me, Sophia and my mom "Manga."

Here is a picture of our train. In order to get to Soldier Hollow, the train drove through Heber. What we did not know was how many roads the train would have to cross along the way. Of course every time we crossed a road, the train had to blow the horn. It was insanely loud and the girls were scared of it because the only shady place left on the train was right up by the front engine.

But there was a perk to being so close to the engine. We were right next to the concession area! The girls were eyeing the M & M's and after having a few, the loud horn didn't seem like quite as big of a deal.

Here are the gals enjoying their train ride. Life is such an adventure when you are three! (Of course it doesn't take a lot to please me either.) Thanks for a great day Mom!

"The Friends"

My mom suprized me with some of the cutest pictures of the girls. For whatever reason, the salmon color of their shirts brings out the red in their hair and just looks so cute. Here they are just being silly together. It is rare that we get a good "natural" smile from Es. The girls had been bickering a lot recently, I think it is part of their age development and being three years old. Sometimes they surprise me with how well they play together. It gives me hope that they will have as good of a relationship as I do with my twin sister, Kristen.