The Super Sperrys!

Explaining a difficult concept

2012-01-27T09:42:00.000-08:00

Anna had a lesson in church last Sunday about making good choices, and her teacher used the term "Satan's follower" if you keep making the wrong choices. At least that is what I've gathered.

Yesterday I picked her up from school and she tells me this story: " Mommy, this big girl kicked me when I was going down the slide! She was mean and didn't say she was sorry! That was such a bad choice! I think she's Satan's follower, and I'll tell her if she does it again!"

Wow! I don't want my child throwing around such a harsh term! And you think they don't pay attention in church, but apparently she did...

We had a conversation about who Satan is, what it means to be a follower, and what it means to make mistakes, or bad choices. What it means to make a mistake and then feel bad about it and say you're sorry and not do it again. We talked about how sometimes we all make bad choices, and that doesn't make us Satan's followers, because we can choose to change.

Anna's little eyes were popping out of her head with this discussion. She paid attention! She realized she had made mistakes or bad choices in the past, and that didn't mean she was "doomed to be Satan's follower".

I just love how in the middle of the every day routine that is raising children, I get these special moments when I get to help a little person understand the world. It felt rewarding.

The best part is: she promised not to go around calling anyone "Satan's follower" ! :) Success!

A fun time with just the girls!

2012-01-20T14:08:00.000-08:00

No school today, so we started the morning watching cartoons on mommy's bed. Daddy had left early to work already, and we decided to play!

Anna asked if we could go to a movie, which shocked me, since she hates the movies, and sits there covering her ears the entire time. Today she asked me to go to my computer and tell her "what's playing". Just the fact that she used that term made me smile! :)

Beauty and the Beast, 3D. Honestly, I've been dying to see it, but when I brought it up before she turned it down immediately, so I just let it go. Today she was in a different mood I guess! Emma is always good for a movie if she is promised popcorn.

We arrived, parked the car, and started going down the stairs. There were two ladies in front of us, one of which was taking her time going down the stairs, very carefully. When we all finally reached the bottom, Emma pipes up: "Mommy, that's an old lady!" They heard. I think I said "Oh, geez!" and felt myself turning bright red. The lady was quite nice and said "You're right, I'm old! That's true!" I apologized and moved on, trying not to make a big deal out of the situation.

We got popcorn, we watched the show, we had lots of fun! Anna only covered her ears when the Beast showed up on screen. Emma ate her popcorn and got tired of the 3D glasses half way through the show. We all loved the princess.

When it was time to go home, coats on, mess picked up, walked to the parking lot... and who was going up the stairs? The lady. The "old" lady. Emma looks up at me, points and says: "Hey mommy!..."

I covered her mouth. I don't know the rest of that sentence.

We had a great time! :)

Best of 2011

2012-01-07T15:48:00.000-08:00

2011 kept me busier than I had hoped, and my poor blog ended up neglected... But! I thought I'd share some of the highlights of 2011.

Anna had a great Valentine's Day party at school!

Playing with tutus was the best! Even Bonnie enjoyed it.

We welcomed a new cousin, Lily! She's so sweet!

We had a wonderful Easter with our BFFs, the Browns, who came from Michigan just to visit us!

Mommy's big crochet accomplishment: crochet Easter dresses for my girls. They looked pretty cute!

Anna turns 6! Party time!

Here she is with some friends for another party! Also big this year, Anna gets glasses! She's so cute.

Emma and Jack eating cake. These two ate a lot of cake together in 2011! :)

U2 Concert! It was amazing! Lots of fun, unforgettable.

Bono said hi! :)

Happy Birthday Russ! You're 6! :)

Daddy and his girls. And his very cool hat, picked by the girls!

Beautiful summer day at Thanksgiving Point with my cuties!

A fun day at the pool with Mommy! Lots of fun for all of us!

Anna getting ready for her second ballet recital. This year was Mary Poppins, and she was part of the Merry Go Round dance.

Aren't they cute? She did a wonderful job! Very proud of our ballerina!

Happy Fourth of July! I got myself some happy toes. :)

Our Fourth of July t-shirts. This year we painted flags. The girls love this tradition, who knows what we'll paint this year.

Emma turns 3! What a big girl!

Here is another cake, from another party! 3 was very well celebrated.

Friends at Emma's birthday party!

Dinosaur Museum. Another great adventure for them!

Wow! Huge! They were very impressed.

Candy is good. Summer fun at Gardner Village

Great accomplishments on the trampoline at Vovo Dutra's house! They love it.

One more concert this year! John, Nicholette and me. We went to the Josh Groban concert!

He's amazing. And funny. And hyper! And amazing. :)

Emma started preschool this year! I could hardly believe it when I dropped her off.

Anna started first grade! Another big blow to this overprotective mother.

Did you think the concerts were over? No way! We saved the best for last! Russ and I at Def Lepard!

Too excited for words!!!

These guys can rock! (We might have a repeat in 2012... just sayin', they're that good)

Anna the vampire and Emma the black cat had a blast this Halloween.

We loved this one. "I Emma Ghost" Buahahahaha!!!

We were so happy to have Tio Douglas back after months and months without him! We sure enjoyed the little bit of time we got.

Dutra family picture during the holidays. We're all here! :)

There was Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years in the middle of all this, but this year we kept all of those very low key. I had a small surgery during the holidays and just wasn't able to keep much record of the festivities. We also had a very sick Emma for Christmas and a very exhausted New Year.

I hope 2012 is better to all of us, because 2011 sure gave us a beating. Still, as I look at all these pictures, in the end I can't help but be grateful for all the good things, all the good people, and all the lessons learned.

Lots of love to all!

The Best Part of the Holidays

2011-12-21T20:34:00.000-08:00

The Best Part of the Holidays is being home with my family. I have been enjoying my time home from work. We've been taking things easy at home and enjoying a lot of time together.

We decided not to wait for Christmas for The Legend of Zelda - Skyward Sword. Anna and Emma are my helpers and have been enjoying the story a lot, and like that they can do a lot of the game moves, like swinging the controller to make the sword move, or using the various tools and equipment Link gets by swinging the controller right.

I have to admit, I have enjoyed it a lot too. I mean honestly how many people truly ever get to experience their childhood dream of single handedly defeating a Giant Squid that is attacking a pirate ship while equipped with only a sword, shield, bow and arrow? It's so fun to be a kid with your kids!

Today Emma picked up a long cardboard post and Daddy decided it would be too much fun to craft a shield and a harp from a pizza box.

Zelda (a.k.a Anna)

Link (a.k.a. Emma)

Anna and Emma as Zelda and Link

It's fun to see them play. Daddy usually gets to be the other guys like the "fix it guy", "restaurant guy at the lumpy pumpkin" and other characters. So far their favorite is when Daddy is their Loftwing (flying bird they get to ride). Mommy got to play today too, and has been learning a lot of fun new vocabulary from Emma like "gratitude crystals", "Kikwus", songs and legends such as the Triforce. I thought playing today with our cardboard was even funner than the game itself. You'd think Christmas came early for how Emma talked about her "favorite" shield, which of course she asked if she could sleep with tonight.

Here is one more moment I would not miss. Emma asleep in the afternoon cuddled with her favorite "doggie".

Sometimes it is just great to be home!

Latest Happenings

2011-09-24T10:12:00.000-07:00

Check out my two little Army girls! Tio Douglas sent them that outfit as a gift, and they love wearing it and thinking of him.

So... this week was apple week at school, they talked all about apples and ended the week with a Johnny Appleseed look a like contest. Anna wanted to participate, so we dressed her up, daddy made her an awesome pan hat out of aluminum foil, and she was ready to go. When asked about it, she just shrugged her shoulders and said it was fun. This morning I'm going through her backpack and what do I find? A certificate for 1st place winner for the entire first grade! I can't believe she could care less! Russ and I were so excited, but she just seemed to think it was not big deal. And she is right, it's just a piece of paper... but we were sure proud of her! :) She just wanted to dress up, and she refused pictures, which I regret, because she looked very cute as Johnny Appleseed!

Anna also got to go on her first sleepover ever at a friend's house last night. She had a blast, and came back with lots of fun treats, sparkly purple nails, and a hot pink streak on her hair! She had a blast! Emma, on the other hand, didn't quite understand the concept of sleepovers. This morning at around 8am, she ran into her sister's room, and calling her name like crazy ran around the entire house. Her lazy parents just rolled over and slept a little longer, thinking she might have remembered big sister was gone and gone back to bed herself. We were wrong. She climbed over the security gate downstairs and looked all through the main floor. Since no success was achieved, Emma was brave and bold and did something that made Russ and I actually tear up a little bit. She went to the basement. To the dark, scary basement. She never goes down there alone, even though we have a very nice finished basement, she's still scared unless all the lights are on. Well, out of concern for her sister, she went to the basement, turned on all the lights, opened all the doors, opened all the closets, and even looked in the food storage room and in laundry baskets. She covered the entire house. Then she went back upstairs and cried profusely. "My Anna is gone, I can't find her!" We brought her up to our room with us and loved her to pieces, and explained that Anna was not gone, she was at her friend's, and we'd go get her in a little. Then I held my little Emma while the sobs calmed, and we watched Curious George together. She loves her sister so much. Her little sister love conquered all her fears, even the fear of the dark, scary basement. If that doesn't make you tear up just a little than you must be a cold, cold person! :)

Sure love these two. They'll stick together through anything, I have a feeling. :) Sisters are the best, aren't they?

Let's Get Rocked!!!

2011-09-04T17:17:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there were two teenagers. One was named Russ, the other, Vanessa. They hadn't met yet, and had no clue that they had one awesome thing in common: their love for Def Leppard!!!! These two teens were very good kids, respected their parents, got good grades... your average nerdy kids to be honest.... But! In the privacy of their headphones, with their Walkmans by their side, Def Leppard was playing, allowing us to at least in our minds, feel like rebellious rock stars! Going to an actual concert at that time was known to be impossible, for lack of parent approval of these loud, big haired, tattooed, British guys!

Guess what! We made it to the concert anyway!!!! So what if we're twice as old as we were when we "rocked" to Def Leppard, we soon realized the songs were alive and well in our minds and hearts, and we were 15 again! Ok, enough crap, the show was AWESOME!!!! Like my shirt? I love it.

This is Heart. They opened the show. They were great!!! We got to hear wonderful hits like Barracuda, Crazy on You, These Tears, Tell it Like it Is, What About Love?, How do I get you Alone... all awesome songs!

Oh, those crazy kids!

And then... here they are, LIVE!!! Let's Get Rocked!!!! Screamed my head off, Russ laughed his head off (at me), and we both sang along and jumped around!

Love Bites!!!! Loved it!

Foolin'

ROCKET! YEAH!!

Check it out. Dude up on top with an awesome guitar solo! They just don't make songs with awesome guitar solos anymore... sigh...

Happy, sweaty, and loving every minute. Best concert ever!!!

Check it out. Rick Allen, the "Thunder God" himself! Amazing. It's true, the Def Leppard drummer only has one arm, but let me tell ya... you would never had known. I love people who conquer their trials in spite of great difficulty. Love Rick Allen!!!

Anyway, and the teenagers are now two old geezers who pretend to rock while dear people watch their two little girls. And for 5 hours they were 15 again, and loved it!

Oh let's go, let's strike a light
We're gonna blow like dynamite
I don't care if it takes all night
Gonna set this town alight

What do you want? What do you want?
I want rock'n'roll, Allright!
Long live rock'n'roll

Rock of ages, rock of ages
Still rollin', keep a-rollin'
Rock of ages, rock of ages
Still rollin', rock'n'rollin'

Milestones: Anna starts First Grade!

2011-08-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

There's my First Grader! I couldn't believe this morning that my Anna would be gone from 8:30 am all the way to 3:30 pm. I'm still in shock. She picked out her outfit two weeks before school started. She woke up ready to take on this new challenge.

First Grade! All day school. This day seemed soooo far away, it gave me a big scare this morning. (insert sad violin song here). She's growing fast. She's so smart, and sweet, and sensitive. Now I'm sending her out into the big bad world all by herself (sad violin song volume rises).

Anna, I've been watching the clock all day wondering what you're up to, how you're feeling right now, what you're thinking. Hoping you remember that you are wonderful, that you are ready, and that you can do anything!

These two are my heart. They are my life. Best gift EVER!

Knowing Anna, I'll ask her how it went today and she'll just shrug her shoulders and tell me "I don't know, I don't remember..." and this first day will remain a mystery to me, until she feels like talking, at random times, like when we're getting in the car to go to the store. I'll wait patiently until you are ready to tell me all about it, Anna. Have a wonderful first day of your entire academic future!!! (Violins come to a dramatic close).

No drama here. Nope. Not me. :)

Milestones: Emma's 1st day of Preschool!

2011-08-16T09:46:00.000-07:00

The day has come. My baby is a big girl. My baby goes to preschool now. Emma is taking off!

I'm pretty pathetic today. I couldn't sleep last night, just thinking of Emma's fragile little state when she was born, 7 weeks early. How she was too small to go straight home. How she fit in those preemie outfits with room to spare.

She sure doesn't look so tiny and fragile now! She is as excited as can be! Her teacher, her classroom, her friends, her turn to get dropped off somewhere...

This morning I crawled into bed with her and scratched her back. She barely opened her eyes and put an arm around me and went back to sleep. I let her doze for a while, then scratched her back some more. She stretched, woke up and kissed me. Then she sat up straight, told me " I had a dweam, I saw faiwies in Vovo Nisi's flowers! But you'w not supposed to catch them, they don't like that!" Another stretch, another kiss and hug, and she plopped in bed again and said " I go to school today, mommy! I get my bag and put on my Dora shoes!"

And so she did!

Anna has said several times that she misses Emma. She's always the one to be gone first, but she still has one more week before she gets to be dropped off for first grade. FIRST GRADE!

Yeah, 2011 school year is hitting me hard. Emma starts preschool, and Anna in full time, first grade, elementary school, cafeteria lunches... wow.

Have a beautiful 1st day of preschool Emminha! I can't wait to find out all about it! :)

Embarrassment at Burger King

2011-06-21T18:52:00.000-07:00

******IMPORTANT: IF YOU ARE OFFENDED WITH POTTY LANGUAGE DO NOT READ THIS POST******

We are currently potty training Emma. I don't want to jinx it, but I think we're at the final stages, thank goodness. We created a special treat box with all the "best" candy, like M&Ms, Snickers, Twix, Crunch, Butterfingers... the small bars. Every time Emma is successful with a #2 in the potty, she and Anna get to have a treat, so Anna has been very vigilant, which is helpful.

Today we had dinner with Daddy at Burger King. Emma announces she needs to go potty, and Anna wants to come along, to check on the results.
Anna: I hope you have a poo Emma, so we can get poo candy!
Emma: Yeah, yeah!
(We run to the restroom, which shares a wall with the kitchen at BK. Each child runs into a stall)
Anna: Are you doing it, Emma?
Emma: Yeah. What you doing Anna?
Anna: I'm pushing my poo out. You can do it too, Emma!
(Sounds of slight struggle, and a fart)
Emma: I did it, Anna! I did it!
Anna: No Emma, that's not what it sounds like when you go poo. Tell me when you hear another sound okay?
(At that exact moment, a beeper goes off in the BK kitchen)
Emma: I hear it! I hear it!
Anna: NO Emma! That's not the sound a poo makes! It's more like a splash! Call me when you hear a splash!
Emma: Okay Anna.
(Mother is now purple from the embarrassment, and has told both girls to keep quiet and finish their business several times, and continued to be ignored, several times)
Emma: I sorry Anna, I have no poo.
Anna: Oh man! Now we're not getting any poo candy!
Emma: What you doing, Anna?
Anna: Still pushing my poo out.

By this time I want to see if I can flush myself down the toilet, be anywhere but in that restroom with other women standing there laughing and glaring at me. And wondering if Anna needs more fiber in her diet.

Moral of the story: It's nice having a big sister to teach you things... like what a poo should sound like.

Wheeler Farm and an Experience

2011-06-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

This past week the girls and I had a field trip to Wheeler farm. We loved it there. Anna has lots to explore, Emma has lots to climb, and mommy has a great time seeing them entertained! We saw lots of animals and played with friends.

Anna, Emma and our friend who lives down the street. He is a great playmate, and they were there too! So much fun!

We had to climb in... we just had to!

We decided to stick around for the milking of the cows. Anna and Emma were both very excited to see the cow so close. I grew up going to an uncle's farm almost every summer, so cows, and milking them, was part of my childhood. This was an experience I really wanted my girls to have. They were both very interested in the demonstrations.

So this is how you do it. Who wants to have a turn?

I know the pictures are at bad angles now, but Anna was very hesitant. After all... what in the world was her mother wanting her to do?!?!

After some coaching and big breaths, Anna decided she could do this. Still a little apprehensive, but she did it! So proud of her for trying something new!

Emma, on the other hand, needed to be reminded to calm down, go slow, take it easy, don't go under the cow, don't scream with delight, you might scare the cow, be gentle, no you can't squirt people... She jumped right in.

Amazing! That's where our milk comes from! Emma was a little pro, you'd think she was around cows all the time.

At the end of the experience all the children left, except mine, who wanted to see the cow milked to the very end. Anna had all kinds of questions now. How is the milk made? Does it hurt the cow when we do that? Why is the milk so foamy, does it have soap? Can we drink the milk? Why can't we drink the milk? So what are you going to do with the milk? Do you have to mix it? What about the cow's baby, will it have enough milk now that we took some away from her? Why is the milk so warm?

I couldn't help but feel very sentimental about this experience. To most it's just a cow milking... to me it was a little bit of what I enjoyed every summer as a child, and seeing that my children were so interested in learning and being close to things like this... like a farm, animals, how things work... it took me back to thinking of my ancestors, my heritage, the simple people I came from. Maybe my "american" little girls can't deny that part of their bloodline after all. Or maybe their mom is just a sap. Either way, I'm treasuring this experience.

Happy Birthday to Russ!

2011-06-13T07:31:00.000-07:00

Last week we had a great time celebrating Russ' birthday! It had been a while since we had all the family together at our house, so it was fun to see all the cousins playing. Everyone was there to wish Russ the best on his day, but the most excited of the group were Anna and Emma. They wanted to give daddy a birthday party, and picked out Phineas and Ferb accessories for the party, because of course daddy would love that!

Everyone around the table, enjoying themselves and catching up.

Time for cake! Make a wish daddy! (yes, the candle says 6, it's the only candle I had on hand... and after 30, who cares anyway, right?)

Lily. Just because she's so cute. And slept through all the craziness around her. Love those cheeks!

Daddy got some great gifts from everyone, including some awesome caps to wear, picked out by Anna and Emma.

Also, a very much anticipated DM screen for our D&D adventures. (Yes, we like to play, if you do too, give us a call, we'd love some company!)

Kate concentrating on all the unwrapping and giggling. She's getting so big! Cute, cute Kate will be walking any minute now!

Madi liked Perry the Platypus. I mean... who doesn't? Too cute.

And where was the thundering trio? Outside having a blast! I love seeing how these three get along. They play, they fight, they hug each other... just like cousins should! ;)

Happy 3.5 Russ! You are mine. We've been through a lot of birthdays now, and I'm glad we'll get to have lots more together. Thanks for being the wonderful daddy that you are. No other girls are this lucky. Thanks for how much you work hard for our family. Thanks for the personal sacrifices you make to show us that we are the most important things in your life. Thanks for making our family your number one priority always, above all else. I love you. All of you. Every little part of you, even the challenging parts of you, because they make you who you are. Heavenly Father knew that we needed each other to make it through this life, and thank goodness we listened!

I Have Two Little Hands

2011-06-01T06:54:00.000-07:00

This is an old post, or should have been. I have two little hands that made these beautiful easter dresses for my beautiful little girls. They're crochet. I made every single stitch. I'm quite happy with how cute they turned out, but it's hard not to have something look adorable on these two! :)

Here they are with their cousin Jack on Easter day. So cute!!!

All the cousins together for Easter! Lily was busy being too little to join in, but she'll be there next year for sure! Anyway, Easter time was a fun time for these girls.

Anna finds her stash on Sunday morning. Awesome treats!!!

Emma is in love. Meet scooter. She loves this thing. She zips around the neighborhood as fast as can be with it. It's adorable watching her on the scooter! Now she has wheels! :)

Anna's 6th, Part 2

2011-05-26T09:21:00.000-07:00

Anna had a birthday party with her little friends on a very stormy Saturday. We did pinata time first, and the kids did get rained on a little, but we couldn't let them miss out on pinata fun! (Oh, yeah, Anna has glasses now, that IS her on the picture. She joined the glasses brigade at our house, and looks super cute! It's so nice to read and not get headaches anymore!)

Everyone gathered up to get their goodies! Never mind that at this point it's already started to rain. It's candy, after all!

Pin the tail on the donkey. Another request by the birthday girl! They had so much fun! Thanks to Tia Pri and Mary for the entertainment part of our party!

Some of our BFFs right here

And right here. They are being very patient during the opening gifts part of the event! :)

Another BFF sharing with her the cool things he gave her!

Time for food!!! Anna picked out that awesome birthday cake all on her own. She fell in love with how cool it looked, and I have to agree.

It's great to share a special day with our best friends!!!

Anna takes her wishes very seriously! I hope all your wishes come true, my beautiful princess!

Some more games, like hot potato, musical chairs, and lots of fun dancing around. It pays off not to have furniture in your front room, especially on a rainy day! They had a blast!

And they all got to make and decorate a paper version of themselves to take home! This was so much fun! These friends are very talented!

Tia Pri outlining Anna. She had a blast! And so did Anna. :)

Another birthday party... 6th one. I'm ready to press pause and just hold her now. Don't get any bigger my Anna. You're my favorite Anna in the world, and I miss every little version of you that stays behind. But I'm sure Anna 6.0 will be fabulous!!! Love you!

Dear Friends

2011-05-12T08:38:00.000-07:00

In April we were thrilled to have our dear friends the Browns come and visit us from Michigan. What a blast it was to see our little ones playing so well, and to get to talk and laugh and play games with people we love so much. Someday when I get to chose my perfect world and perfect life, I'm going to live next door to the Browns. :)

Our very intellectual and extremely smart children spent time playing some incredible chess matches. I have to say, they seemed a little bored by the activity after playing such an easy game...

So we colored Easter eggs instead! ;) Everyone got very creative with their egg creations. Dinosaurs, monsters, shinny eggs...

Red Butte Gardens. One of my favorite places to go. I love seeing the girls running in this field. It was so pretty! The day was chilly, and the flowers weren't all in bloom yet, but again, I love this place.

A little break for a picture. The Garden Adventurers! Poor Max putting up with all these girls! He was a good sport in humoring them all. Our kids are so cute.

Our cute kids again, swinging all together. They found lots of fun things to do at the gardens. Considering the weather was terrible while they were here, this was a nice change from being indoors all the time!

Bright red dirt, a mother's dream! They had fun, that's all that matters, and dirt washes off right? Unless it's red... :)

We had a seriously wonderful time visiting with our friends, I'm so grateful that God allowed us to cross paths and have them in our lives. Thanks for flying all this way, for dealing with bad weather, for listening to our woes, for laughing at our jokes, and for getting us started on a new hobby, which, by the way, I'm humbly starting to kick butt at! :) (Zord the Sly is freaking awesome!!!)

Love the Browns!

So much fun for everyone!

2011-05-11T07:54:00.000-07:00

Last night Anna had a blast celebrating her birthday at Chuck E Cheese's. All the family was there, so thanks Grandma and Grandpa Sperry, Vovo Dutra, Vovo Nisi, Tia, Aunt Jeanne, Uncle Jake, Kate and Madi, Uncle John, Aunt Nicholette, Jack and Lily for making Anna's 6th birthday so special! Here are some of the highlights:

Anna climbed all the way up to the "cage". Tricky stuff. Good job!

Uncle John and Jack loved the Merry Go Round. So cute!

Emma working hard to figure out how this ride works.

That face says "aggressive driver" all over it! I'd stay out of the way if I were you!

Happy Birthday from The Chuck E. himself! ;)

Happy Birthday Anna! Make a wish!!!

Yum, that was good cake.

Some fun presents! Love it!

Dancing with Chuck E. Anna had moves!

Emma was not left behind on the dancing, she loved it.

My favorite shot of the night! Jack!!! Are you excited? Love this little man!!!

Thanks again, everyone, for such a special time with Anna last night. Unforgettable for her, I'm sure. We missed Daddy a whole lot, and gave him a very detailed description of the fun. Don't be bummed you couldn't be there, Daddy, we still have a ton on game coins to go back and spend when you come back!

My baby is 6! :)

May 10th, Anna's Day!

2011-05-10T08:06:00.000-07:00

Here she is, 6 years a go. Right out of the oven. She was beautiful, and alert, and decided to come a week early. We sure fought hard together, didn't we, Anna? They told us you'd take hours to arrive, and yet you and I knew better. Under 30 minutes and we finally got to see each other! I remember the day I found out you were coming. I was driving to the Dallas Temple when the doctor's office called me with my test results. No one had a more grateful heart than me and you in that temple that day.

One of our very first family pictures! Aren't we cute? Your Daddy sure loves you. He held you and loved you and rocked you to sleep. That hasn't changed these 6 years. It's so beautiful to see how much you resemble him. How creative and imaginative you are, just like he is. How great you both are at playing Mario on the Wii. Daddy loves that time with you. I hope you play Mario with Daddy even when you're too "cool" to do so. :)

Look at the adorable, beautiful, special little girl you are! My big girl, you are 6 today. You are my miracle come true. You are my first jewel, you are are my "little princess". Even though now your princess likes to go to space and fight aliens with her super "love" weapons, which makes you more awesome in my eyes than any other princess out there, that's for sure. You are so beautiful. I sure thank my Heavenly Father for letting me have you to love and care for, until you do get married to your "perfect husband" and become a "mommy" like you want to so much, or whatever else your life has in store for you.

Today you're 6! What wonderful 6 years you've given me. Thank you Anna, for changing my life in such an amazingly wonderful way. Thank you for teaching me what unconditional love feels like. Thank you for your loves and kisses and songs and pictures and flowers you pick for me. Thank you for telling me I'm the best mommy ever, even when I don't deserve it.

I love you. Daddy loves you. Emma loves you. Bonnie and Scooter love you. Happy 6th birthday you awesome alien fighting princess!

Sunday Mornings

2011-05-01T07:29:00.000-07:00

They're my favorite. Russ usually wakes me up, and we cuddle, and talk nonsense, and then one of us will usually say: "Can you believe the kids are still sleeping?". Two minutes later, they are awake. They burst through the door. Anna jumps on to the bed and right to my arms. Emma announces that it's day already! "It's bwue outside!" Then she jumps up to the bed and joins us. Lots of hugs, kisses, did you sleep wells, did you dream? We then get to hear the dreams:

Anna: " I dreamed that I was floating in the sky! And I turned into a princess (of course.. mommy note here) and kissed all the little birdies that were flying in the sky!"
Emma: "Me too, I dweamed it too!"
Anna: "No you didn't Emma. And then the sky turned to chocolate!"
Russ:" To chocolate? What did you do then?"
Anna: "I don't remember. What day is today?"
Vanessa: "It's Sunday"
Emma: "We go to chuwch today? We go take SNACKWAMENT!"
(Lots and lots of repressed laughter by both adults)

Cat jumps on the bed, kids get distracted with cat, Russ and Vanessa get in one more snuggle before kids demand breakfast. Mommy tickles Emma and says "crianca querida da mamae!!!" Which she repeats to me and gives me "beijos" or kisses.

That's a perfect moment. I love Sunday Mornings.

You know those things you say you'll never ever....

2011-04-10T15:54:00.000-07:00

You know those things you say you'll never ever do? Nope, not me. Not in my house. Uh uh. Not going to happen. Well, this week one of those things happened. We have a...cat. I am not a cat person. Never imagined, envisioned ever having one - not me not in a million years. I am a dog person.

Vanessa seems to do fine, and Anna and Emma are happy with any pet, could have been a boa constructor and they would probably be cheering. Even Bonnie (our dog) seems to be doing well with her - other than normal jealousy. Bonnie is pretty mellow, for anyone who has met her. It was three days before we ever heard her bark. And I'm sure she'd lick any intruder who visits the house. In fact, Bonnie barks or gets worked up so seldom that when she does we really pay attention.

Our new arrival's name is Scooter. She is gray and black, has green eyes, is 10 months old and seems mellow like the rest of us. I guess we are now an official suburban family. Mom, Dad, 2 kids, dog, cat. We decided though we'd give it a chance.

As for me, I suspect Scooter will grow on me. I was particularly happy that Scooter has noticed the areas where we have noticed uninvited guests (field mice) in the past in our basement. We have been dealing with mice in our basement and despite cleaning, mousetraps, etc. we still seem to notice them from time to time. So even I suspect that despite my own preconceptions, Scooter is going to be making points with me.

Welcome Scooter Sperry!

Sleepers Beware

2011-04-10T15:49:00.000-07:00

Today in church, I was nodding off a little but in sacrament meeting. I didn't think that anyone was noticing, but boy was I wrong. Emma decided to cry out at the top of her lungs in cute little 2-year old speak "Daddy! Don't close yo' Eyes!" at which point she grabbed my eyes with her hands to make sure they were opening.

Sleepers beware. Emma is on duty!

Congratulations to Russ!

2011-03-14T09:40:00.000-07:00

Here he goes again, showing the world he is sure of his place in it! Russ attended the CPIC Conference this year, and he was one of the 10 people awarded for his outstanding individual and organizational achievements and contributions in capital planning and related areas.

And there he is! Making us proud, receiving his award. The beauty of this entire thing is that he wasn't even aware he was nominated to begin with, and it all came as a wonderful surprise to him. It's so great to be rewarded for something you are doing anyway. What some call excellence in management, Russ calls everyday good sense and great work! ( I have bragging rights, I'm his wife).

We are so proud of him, and he has three fans at home who were thrilled for his wonderful recognition, but what makes us really love him the most is the fact that his favorite part of all this experience was coming back home to us! :)

Congratulations Russ!!! BTW... I think you should keep the beard. I really do.

Too Much Fun

2011-03-05T16:39:00.000-08:00

This is what a life with little girls is like:

This little princess slumbers in her beautiful outfit of ballerina/peasant girl/little Bo Peep. It's too much for a little person to do without taking a nap in the middle.

This morning, as Anna warmed up for ballet, she decided she needed a dance partner:

Poor Bonnie Blue. Look at her face. She knows there's nothing she can do about it.

Anna loves how funny this is! She did come up with the idea, and she loved it that Bonnie didn't seem to mind much. She's such a good furry friend!

Emma decided to join in the fun, and this was the very special dance recital we had in our front room this morning. Precious. As a member of the press I had exclusive shots of this grand event. Aren't I lucky?

The moral of the story is:
Tutus are fun. :)

The Blackout

2011-02-17T07:29:00.000-08:00

Last night we had a lovely blackout. It lasted for quite a few hours, and at first the girls were scared, but we light candles, found flashlights, and mommy, through inspiration, I'm sure, had just downloaded some fun kid apps to the i-touch. We played and snuggled. We got ready for bed by flashlight, and that was a blast for them!

Russ came home, had a candlelight dinner, and then we talked and talked and talked. I had a candle, and my current crochet project, and we enjoyed each other's company like we haven't done so in a long time.

And just to get romantic, I had this feeling of bloodline, of tradition, as I crocheted to the light of a candle. I've seen the women in my family from years past doing just that. I imagined them smiling down on me, as I sat in my modern house, with all the comforts they never imagined, and crocheted to the light of a candle, and thought about my little family. And I thought about them, the strong, tough, exemplary women whose blood I have the privilege to share. They were there with me. One of my favorite books has this constant saying in it "windy nights, nights of the dead". Last night I felt it. I felt my dead with me. All those wonderful women before me, giving me strength. I belong to them, they belong to me.

January Highlights

2011-02-15T11:25:00.000-08:00

Emma wanted to color in the morning, she said she was going to color her doggy.

So she laid it down on the paper and colored around it. We had fun with that one.

Anna and Emma in the kitchen.

Making pie crust... aren't they good?

Anna and Daddy worked very hard on their domino tower, it looks gorgeous.

Oh no! Who could have knocked down such beauty???

Emma did! She has no problem admitting to it! Emma, the destroyer!

See you soon with some February fun.

Going back to Christmas

2011-02-15T06:48:00.000-08:00

This last Christmas was very low key for us, which was great. I hate the rushing back and forth, and tend to dread the holiday completely, but we made it a point to keep it simple, and it really helped us focus on what's really important at that time of the year. Just so I wouldn't let it go unnoticed, though, since this is kind of my family journal, I thought I'd add some pictures of our Christmas fun.

We had a blast Christmas morning, Russ/Santa gave me a Kindle, which I'm addicted to now, and the kids got lots of fun toys, but their favorite is still Bonnie Blue. She's a sweetie. And Santa made sure to remember her as well! :) Another fun time for our family.

Our New Picture

2011-02-14T19:11:00.000-08:00

I loved Anna's picture of our family so much I decided it should be our new header. Daddy, Emma, Mommy, Anna, Bonnie, and Anna is thinking about a rock star with purple hair. That's it. Our family... truth be told, we all want to be rock stars with purple hair. :)

"Colate" Confessions

2011-01-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

"Colate" (pronounced in portuguese KO- LA -CHEE)is short for chocolate, which is enjoyed very much by all in our house. Today, about ten minutes after Vanessa had dressed Emma in a new outfit to go out for the day, Emma came back upstairs with her mouth and entire face covered in brown. Vanessa asked "What is that?". Emma answered, "colate". Vanessa and I were scratching our heads trying to figure out where Emma would have found it, since we thought everything was put away. So we decided to try asking Emma where she found it. Vanessa asked "Emma, where did you get that colate?". Emma paused for a second, looked a little hesitant, and then looked up a little shyly and pointed saying "...on my shirt!".

Emma's Reminder!

2010-12-26T08:23:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, Daddy got the "New Super Mario Bros Wii" Game and we have all been playing, even Tia Pri. It gets very exciting! It has been fun for us all playing together.

I can really tell Emma, our two year old, was having a fun time with the game (even though she plays with a controller with no batteries). Tonight it was Daddy's turn to pray at family prayer. When Emma and Anna pray, sometimes we whisper things to remind them if they forget (like blessing the food). Tonight just as Daddy was just about to finish the prayer, Emma was very concerned that Daddy had forgotten something. So, innocently and very politely but also very non-discreetly, she reminded me to please bless "get the naughty guys"! We all smiled and laughed a little when the prayer was done! It is such a joy having Emma and her cute personality with us!

Meet Bonnie Blue Sperry!

2010-12-22T15:29:00.000-08:00

For Christmas this year we decided it was time for Santa to fulfill a wish that has been requested for a long time now... Well, since Anna was 2. So 3 years now. We have a dog! We decided to adopt from the Humane Society here in Utah, the thought of giving a dog a good home for Christmas seemed like the right thing to do. We visited lots of cute animals, but fell in love with Bonnie. Turns out Bonnie was a special kind of dog, which we weren't aware of, or even cared. She's a Skye Terrier. It's a Scottish breed, hence the name Bonnie Blue. She's about 1 year and a half, and is the cutest thing ever! We thought we'd wait till Christmas to give her to the girls, but the excitement was just too much for Russ and I, so Bonnie came home today.

Meeting Bonnie for the first time. Daddy was waiting with Bonnie at the nearest pet store so the girls could help pick out Bonnie's things.

Girls are still excited and wondering if this is for real. Anna keeps asking, "can we really take her home???"

Emma finally accepts Bonnie and makes friends. It didn't take long.

Bonnie is probably wondering who we all are, and why we can't stop staring at her!

Once we're home, Bonnie runs around the entire house and finds her favorite spot, the corner of the couch. Anna tells us that when we left we were a family of four, now we are a family of five!

Anna, Emma and Bonnie are good friends! ( I know because Bonnie Blue kissed them several times)

Here she is! She's still in a one week trial with us, to see if we're a good match with each other, but once she's officially ours, I'll be taking her to the grooming salon, to get all dolled up! She'll be gorgeous!

It's funny how much we all just fell in love with Bonnie, she's already made our home a lot more fun. What a special Christmas this year!

Anna received her very own message from Santa!

2010-12-21T16:07:00.000-08:00

Oh she was so excited to get this message from Santa! It was great!!! Check it out if you have a chance!

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/guest/HRegWZz80mbUS7PHStg4LQ

So cute. It was a great memory to have her watch it.

Thanksgiving Pictures

2010-12-21T15:42:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know we're almost at Christmas, but at least I remembered, these okay? (Pricila... stop bugging me)

Tio Douglas and Emma having a sweet moment together. By the way, there will not be pictures of the food. We were too busy eating it to take pictures of it. It was delicious!

It's Anna against Tia Pri in an exciting game of bowling on the Wii. I think Anna won...

There was also an exciting game or Tennis, but we didn't include a picture, we were too busy picking up the pieces of the Wii, since someone who shall not be named, (but is featured in the picture above) let her controller go flying off her hand and hit the Wii, knocking it down. The reason this happened is still being debated, some say somebody bumped into her, some say she just lost control... we'll never know the truth. :)

This was me testing the cool things my camera can do. There is Anna sitting still so cute and dainty, and the big blob flying behind her is the non-stop action packed Emma.

Just to show that a soldier can be brought down by the strength of his two little nieces.

A sibling may be the keeper of one's identity, the only person with the keys to one's unfettered, more fundamental self.
-- Marian Sandmaier

There you have it. Best memories of Thanksgiving this year. Love ya!

Where Daddy's Grandma lives.

2010-12-12T14:55:00.000-08:00

Today after church, Anna asked me (Russ) where Daddy's Grandma lived? I told her that she had gone to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus, but that she used to live in the house that Anna's grandma lived in now. We talked about silly things Daddy would do with her when he was a little boy, including grandma's yummy food, family holidays, weeding, working in the yard, going to events, and even washing us off after playing in the mud (which Anna really liked). I told Anna that I knew that Daddy's grandma would love and be proud of Anna. A little afterwards, she asked me if going to live with Jesus and Heavenly Father meant that she died, and I told her that is true. And she asked how that happens, and we talked about how our bodies get old and have a hard time, and sometimes stop working. Anna told me that she didn't like that our bodies get old and die. She paused for a little and looked at me and told me that she wanted to say a prayer and ask for Jesus to give Daddy's Grandma a hug and help her feel better. And so then and right there she did exactly that! We talked a little after about how Jesus died, and what happened then, and what the word resurrection means, and about having hope to see our families again, to have perfect bodies and live again after we die. Sometimes, in spite of all the church and lessons we go to, I enjoy the simple moments when we get to talk about the things we really believe, hope for, and care about the most.

No cards this month, just this!

2010-12-12T14:23:00.000-08:00

This year we decided to go easy on ourselves, and make it fun to contact our loved ones, without the pressure of making it to the post office on time.

We had so much fun making this, Anna actually said she didn't remember when we dressed up to do it! So cute.

So Merry Christmas to all of our dear friends and family, I hope you'll have Jesus in your heart and lots of goodies in your stockings.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Thankful Boards

2010-11-29T19:56:00.000-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving, while mommy prepared her oh so delicious sweet potato casserole, daddy and the girls were working on a very cute Thanksgiving project we like to call "Thankful Boards". Anna and Emma looked through magazines with Daddy's help, and found pictures of things they are thankful for. You'll have to click on the pictures to see them a little bit larger, but this is one fun memory we had with them. We might have to do this one again, until they get old enough to start thinking, "this is soooo lame..." :) Until then, we'll enjoy it.

Emma is thankful for:

Just to clarify:

Peeky: her word for "blanket", her favorite friends. She has two, therefore, a peeky, and a blue peeky. Peeky originates from the "Peek-a-boo" games often played with said blankets... Get it?

Colate: Chocolate milk. Pronounced [koe-lah-chee], from the Portuguese word, "chocolate"

Clues: For those of you out of the "toddler loop", these are clues from Blue's Clues, and she's thankful for them!

Anna is thankful for:

Didn't she do a great job cutting out her pictures?

It was wonderful to see all the beautiful, funny, cute things our princesses are thankful for. It just makes me even more thankful for them.

The Funny Things They Say

2010-11-21T07:32:00.000-08:00

Anna:
Watching a documentary with mommy. We watch a woman trying to milk a cow. Every time she moves down to milk the cow, it scoots away and says, " MOOO". This happens two or three times, before Anna, frustrated says, " Didn't that lady hear her? The cow keeps sayng, NOOOO, NOOOO" :)

Emma:
There are four turkeys on the counter. Emma looks and says, "Wook Mommy, two tukeys!, one, two, thwee, fou, five! Two tukeys!" (2 year old math skills)

Anna:
"Mommy, do you know what a soccer monster is?"
"No, Anna, I don't."
"Well I do, it's a monster that steals your ball when you want to play soccer."
"Well, that's not nice!"
Few seconds later.
"Mommy, do you know where soccer monsters live?"
"I have no idea!"
"Well I do. They live in San Diego".
:)

Emma:
Daddy, daddy, wet's pway hide and go secwet!!!! Peeeeease! :)

Meus Tesouros

2010-11-08T16:17:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry if you don't speak Portuguese, but this morning, at 4:30 am I woke up in a hurry because these words came to me in a dream, and I had to write them down. My girls are my everything.

Meus Tesouros

As maiores buscas do homem:

Tesouros, poder, posicao.

Em ti encontrei um sonho,

A verdadeira emocao.

Amor, afeto, ternura,

Coragem e determinacao.

Do ouro nao as obtive,

Tu es minha inspiracao.

O sol nasce no teu sorriso

Da mais pura beleza a visao.

Riquezas, por mais valiozas,

Nao terao comparacao.

Com as joias mais preciosas

Que Deus me entregou nas maos,

Que o ouro se faca em po

Que as riquezas desaparecam

Falta nao me farao.

Pois meu tesouro e eterno,

E a verdadeira alegria

Es tu no meu coracao.

(Pras minhas lindas guriazinhas).

Complete The Phrase!

2010-11-04T18:41:00.000-07:00

From this evening. Daddy starts the phrase and Emma finishes it:

Eu te........AMO!

Eu te a......DORO!

I love.......YOU!

I tickle..................YOU, ANNA!

Super Mario Halloween!

2010-11-01T16:46:00.000-07:00

This year Russ went all out making these cool Halloween costumes for our family. We had a Super Mario theme, and I have to say, it was awesome!

Emma the Super Mario Star and Anna as Princess Peach!

And here they are! Princess, Mario, and Star! So cute.

After our trick or treating we stopped by Aunt Jeanne's and Uncle Jake's to check out Kate and Madi's costumes. Aren't they the cutest bumble bees you've ever seen? Pri and I were each a Mario character as well. I was the Fire Flower and Pri was the Mushroom Man. Russ painted those on the cardboard by hand, can you believe it? It was fun being a Fire Flower with my cute family. Now we all have tummy aches from all the candy we've been eating!

Why The Mountains Are Where They Are

2010-10-29T15:24:00.000-07:00

Anna, Emma, and Daddy are driving on on the freeway, close to the mountains.

Anna: Daddy, is Jesus as strong as the mountains?

Daddy: That's right Anna. Jesus can move mountains.

Anna: How does Jesus move mountains?

Daddy: He has faith and then he tells the mountains to move and they go where he wants them to.

Anna pauses for several seconds and looks out the window some more...

Anna: Daddy, Jesus must like to put the mountains right there!

The Adventures of Emma, Anna, Daddy and Link.

2010-10-16T19:12:00.000-07:00

Emma, Anna and Daddy have all been enjoying playing the Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time. It is an "old school" game by today's standards but has everything important: A hero/prince (Link), a Princess (Zelda), other princes and princesses, monsters, dragons, disguises, castles, and adventures. I started playing it out of encouragement from John because it is one of the only Zelda games I had never played, but it has turned out to be a very fun Daddy daughter adventure. Anna loves the stories and makes sure I read her everything they say. She also has many good suggestions about how to beat enemies, and in some case got them exactly right!

Emma started by looking for princesses and pointing them all out. She was not even fooled when Princess Zelda went into disguise. Emma knows her princesses even by their eyes alone! I asked Anna who it was and she was not sure, but Emma walked right up to the screen and said "there she is, princess!". Emma is also our spider patrol. She will stop and say "what's that?" or "Daddy, I hear a sound", and more often than now we find another spider to defeat in our quest.

Both girls have coined new jumping around the room Link phrases like "Hiyah!" and have learned that the triangle of force is indeed the Triforce. Anna was very upset when evil Gannondorf stole it! But we are hunting him down and every time we beat a new big monster she asks me if we are ready to get Gannondorf yet! She can already taste that Triforce. Emma too knows exactly what it looks like and whenever she sees its symbol on the wall (or anyting diamond like and angular for that matter) she will shout out "Look Dadddy, a Triforce!". They also both enjoy the songs.

Poor Daddy is not a great horseman. Uncle John had to help us get our horse the first time (John is viewed as the guru of this game by Anna and Emma who often remind me I can ask him for help if we get stuck), but Daddy redeemed himself by jumping over a thousand foot drop gorge to make it to a new land. Anna was very impressed at the jump.

Our favorite new phrases have been Emma's new phrases each time we beat a big new monster. I have learned new one word terms like "Stoppadragon" "Stoppaspider" and "Stoppameoba" (they are pronounced very rapidly with no pause).

I have to admit, this has been a very fun surprise. I never had ever even expected I would have been asked for "play Link" time by my girls. Anna's coaching, ideas, conversations about what to try next, and excitement over each adventure and each new little discovery that Emma walks right up to the big screen and touches with her finger while saying to make sure I notice (doggies, fish, cows, or chickens, spiders, fairies, holes, eyes, etc.) are my favorite parts of the game! And mommy smiles and is a great sport about all the new adventure words we are learning as we 3 sit there on the couch and use our "controwee"s (controllers) as Emma calls them to help link move around. Originally, 2 of the 3 were not plugged in, but Emma quickly picked up on this and often makes sure hers is plugged into the player 4 slot now. It's OK, we all know Link is doing exactly what all 3 of us are telling him. You should hear those buttons clicking on the tough maneuvers!

Just another Sunday Morning

2010-10-11T18:08:00.000-07:00

Russ has his routines he likes to follow, like laying out his Sunday clothes on the bed while he's showering in the morning. This particular Sunday he did just that, went to the bathroom, took his shower, and when he came out to get dressed, he found this:

-Shirt? Check

-Tie? Check

-Belt? Check

-Shoes? Check

I think she loves her daddy, don't you?

Emma

2010-10-05T09:52:00.000-07:00

Here is my cute little Emma. This is my favorite thing to do with her, give her "lubs". Daddy caught us in a cuddle time here. Emma has her best buddy "Doggie" with her. She has two other best friends she calls "peekies". They're her blankets. Two soft blankets that she can't live without.

I just caught Emma eating chocolate powder from the container. A little bit earlier than that, she was trying to climb up the dvd stand. Today she decided to wear her sister's pink snow boots. She likes to pray. She likes to repeat whatever the person who is praying is saying as well.

Today she woke up at 6a.m. She knocked on my door and said "Want lubs, mommy!" So yes, I went to her bed with her and gave her lubs. She then asked me to sing, "issy spider", "e i e i o", "tinkle star"and the always favorite "a b c's". Once she got bored with that, she decided to make a request "scratch my back, peeease!" So I did. She said "fank you, mommy!"

Emma, you're my favorite Emma in the whole world! Your mommy lubs you.

Conference Highlights

2010-10-03T18:41:00.000-07:00

Conference was wonderful, as always, and there were many very special parts, but I have to share my two favorites here:

This is Emma's picture of conference. We tried to get her to tell us what it was, and all we got was "Daddy".

Anna took the time to draw the television screen, and then words she heard during conference. I labeled them all so we could remember. I loved their pictures!

Red Butte Gardens

2010-10-01T16:35:00.000-07:00

This post will be huge. This year for Labor Day Weekend we took the girls to have an adventure at Red Butte Gardens. If you've never been there, don't wait any longer. It's gorgeous, and the girls had soooo much fun! Here are Anna and Emma ready to start their adventure in the children's garden.

Running down hill is fun!

This snake maze was awesome, and if it were adult sized I would have played in it too!

They reach the end! Can you tell it's the mouth of the snake? Cool, huh.

Anna and Emma capture a lizard.

Emma finds a bee and had mommy take a picture.

Breathtaking. It was just too beautiful up there.

Now running uphill.

Don't you feel like running through this, twirling and spinning? I wanted to, but Russ wouldn't let me... :)

Daddy and the girls following down another beautiful path.

We found the "secret garden"! It has this great little waterfall.

Anna and Emma fascinated by the waterfall.

Another beautiful path, covered with trees.

Girls with another capture.

Check out this pond! It was so fun to see the fish so close!

That one smiled for the camera.

Anna getting a closer look.

Emma looking cute.

Look what I found! I can't believe I managed to take a picture, these hummingbirds are so fast! The Rose Garden had dozens of them, all around. It was amazing!

I can't wait to have another adventure at Red Butte Gardens with the girls. It was just one of those "perfect" days I'll get to tuck in my memories forever.

Conversation on the way to school

2010-09-08T15:44:00.000-07:00

This morning as I was driving Anna to school she started with one of her recent favorite comments:
Anna: Mommy, you're the best!
Vanessa: No Anna, you're the best.
Anna: No, you are!
Vanessa: Anna, you're the cutest.
Anna: No, you are!
Vanessa: Anna, you're the sweetest.
Anna: No, you are!
Vanessa: Anna, you're the funnest.
Anna: No, you are!
Vanessa: Anna, you're the prettiest.
Anna: Well, yes, but you're kind of pretty too, Mommy.

I think her self-esteem is doing fine, don't you? :)

Vanessa's Annual Celebration

2010-09-05T12:47:00.000-07:00

I think, and I'm sure a lot of you will concur, that after one turns 30 there is no need to keep track of numbers anymore. But what about the celebration? We must still have that! I think my birthdays, for me, means more of a celebration of making it another year, than how long I've been around. I love to think about the past year and have my own "resolutions". I don't do New Year's resolutions, but I do think more about things on my birthday / celebration day. This year I wanted to keep it low key, nothing much. Just fun with people I love. Here are some pictures:

My little brother Douglas and I having fun on the trampoline. I hadn't done this in years! So fun.

Of course my girls were part of the action. They loved it. Emma called it "jump jump". She didn't want to leave!

Pushing Mommy down! Two against one, no fair! ( I love it)

My only birthday wish: "Torta de Bolacha". Yum, my favorite.

I'm so grateful for all the friends and family who have helped make this year's celebration another memorable day for me. Thanks for all the good wishes, cards, gifts, and hugs. I'm so lucky.

Temple Square Visit

2010-09-04T11:56:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we took the kids for some family time at Temple Square. Anna was upset that there was no Primary last Sunday, since it was Stake Conference, so we decided to go on this adventure to make up for it.
Don't you love this part? Anna stood there thinking about Jesus. It was sweet.

And everything that Anna does, must, of course, be repeated by Emma. You'll see. But she knew that was Jesus right away.

My two cuties enjoying the gardens. It was a beautiful day for this activity.

Daddy took this time to tell the girls about the pioneers. They really enjoyed hearing his stories. Anna was impressed.

Anna, the princess, posing in front of the most beautiful "castle temple" she's ever seen.

And our cute Emma, thought that stand was for dancing. What else would you use it for?

Enjoying the beautiful water fountain. The girls were so impressed by all the fountains around Temple Square, but this one was the "coolest", we decided.

We hadn't done this with the kids in a long time, and it was so much fun! We didn't get to take Anna to Primary, but I think she really enjoyed all the things she saw and learned.

I love these moments.

The time has come - Kindergarten

2010-08-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

Let it be on record that today, August 30th, my baby started school. Yes, my baby, I don't care how big she is, she is always my baby. As we were getting ready this morning I kept getting flashbacks to when she fit perfectly in my arms, as I combed her hair this morning, I saw the baby with the hair that would always stick up straight. As I watched her put her shoes on, I could see her taking her first steps. Oh Anna, why do you have to grow up?

Anna was an excited little girl this morning, and of course, mommy took lots of pictures of my big girl!

Anna giving me a wink, playing it cool...

Anna and Emma having some fun before school. Emma wanted a backpack too.

And she's off! Kindergarten, here she comes!

Class of 2023??? Wow! That hit me hard. Anna will graduate in 2023. She's on her way!

Anna standing in line with her classmates!

With their adorable teacher. She's so sweet to them. Check out Emma standing next to Anna. She wanted to be by her sister. Cute.

First day of Kindergarten was a piece of cake! :)

I can't believe we're at this point now. Anna, I'm so happy you're starting on this fun adventure. I just know you'll love school, and learning, and making friends. You are a smart, creative, imaginative, energetic, sensitive, sweet little girl, I'm so glad we get to see you learn and grow, and we look forward to helping you along the way!

Haircuts

2010-08-26T17:27:00.000-07:00

So I decided that since Anna is getting ready for school, and that means getting ready in the morning, we needed haircuts to make the mornings easier. It was hard for me to have her hair cut, it was soooo long and beautiful! But... it was worth it. Emma needed to be part of the experience too, she had never had her hair cut before, not that she has that much hair to speak of, but she also got a new look.

Anna before

Emma before

Anna did great and sat very still

and to my surprise, so did Emma! She did great!

Anna after! Beautiful!

Emma was done. You can only sit still for so long!

Check out my cute girls.

I know I always sound gushy, but they're my reason for everything. They drive me nuts and make me laugh, and make me furious and make me proud, and my heart just can't hold all the love I feel sometimes, so I cover them with kisses until they wiggle away. :)

Going on an adventure!

2010-08-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

We have this wonderful trail right in our backyard but hadn't started taken advantage of it till recently. We had so much fun in our adventure!

Anna and Emma are ready to begin our adventure.

Daddy and Emma following the path

Check out the pond!

Anna, our tour guide. "Follow me, guys!"

Beautiful day for an adventure/walk. :)

The girls were excited someone caught a fish! We threw him back in, though. It's not his time, yet...

Our tour guide showing me what to take pictures of:

Look, a duck!

Pretty flower

Another pretty flower.

And yet another pretty flower! Cute.

We loved our adventure, and I'm pretty sure we'll be having lots more really soon.

Harvest Days Parade!

2010-08-18T11:49:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa Sperry invited us to the Harvest Days parade that happens every year in their hometown, and since we had friends from out of town visiting, we brought them along! WE LOVE YOU BROWN FAMILY!!! We all miss you so much already. Here are A LOT of pictures taken that day. Enjoy!

Anna and Max

Spencer and Yoroko and Emma. All waiting for the parade to begin.

Hi Adrian! They're all getting ready to get their candy!

Every time a float came by they throw candy at the kids, they loved it!

Grandma and Grandpa Sperry and Russ, chatting away.

Scary!!! :)

Howdy Emma! Cute hat!

Yoroko in thought... Gorgeous girl!

Daddy and Emma love the parade!

Max telling his mommy something... sweet moment.

Ready, set, catch that candy!!!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa, we had a great time!

Happy Birthday Emma!

2010-08-09T12:50:00.000-07:00

Emma's birthday was July 22nd, and my baby is now 2! Too fast, too fun. She's just the cherry on top for our family. Here are some of the fun events:

Emma got her own Dora "Backpack". She loves all things Dora right now.

Gifts from Vovo Nisi and lots of hugs!

Then Emma decided to water the plants. Over and over and over.

Happy 2nd Birthday Sweet Emma girl!

Daddy helps her blow out the candle.

What's in her mouth? Dora. Watch how she ate her cake:

Who needs a fork when you have a Dora? This little girl always brings a smile to my face, she was definitely meant to be a part of our family, it just wouldn't be complete without her.

Love you Emma. Love you more than you love your Doggie and your Peekies. Love you more than you love Dora and "Colate". You're GORGEOUS! :)

New Family Pictures!

2010-07-13T19:22:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we had some new family pictures taken. They came out wonderful! The name of my photographer? Sorry... not telling! :) (Thanks, Nicholette!)

I can't tell you how blessed we feel to have such a beautiful little family! We love the pictures!!!

Howdy!

2010-07-11T15:21:00.000-07:00

At the end of June I had a chance to attend a Social Media Conference in Park City, and the closing social/party was sponsored by Bush's Baked Beans. It was awesome! We got to enjoy a great evening and they took these fun pictures of everyone as we walked in. Aren't we a cute bunch of cowboys? :)

The Dinosaur Museum

2010-07-07T16:04:00.000-07:00

About a month a go Russ took some time off work and we had a little family vacation at home. It was so much fun! One of the highlights was the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. We had a blast! Look at Anna, and how little she is compared to this huge dinosaur bone!

Russ made sure to hold Emma most of the time. It was safer that way... :)

This is a dinosaur puzzle. Anna made this species up all by herself! I think we spent the most time here, building this guy.

Just because she's cute.

This came out so shaky, but there they go! What fun adventures these two have!

That is the closest I could get Anna to stand to the shark. :) We told her it wasn't real, but she still kept a safe distance. Some would say she was scared, but I say she was smart! What if that thing all of a sudden came to life and decided it wanted a snack?

The cutest paleontologists in the world, digging up the rarest bones...

Anna wearing goggles and working on her little fossil. I could see a future in science. Maybe science theater...

Another fun day with our girls! Can't get enough.

Favorite Pastime - Going to the Park

2010-06-30T21:22:00.000-07:00

I just love summer, when we can enjoy all the beautiful parks in our area. This is just one of those fun days.

Hi Anna. What are you up to?

She just wanted to sit there.

She really just wanted to sit there.

Wow, Emma gets to be the driver! Off they go!

Smiles like this one is why we go to the park!

Anna facing her fears and going all the way to the top of the arch. She did it!

Summer fun memories are the best!

Sunshine and the Astronaut

2010-06-22T15:57:00.000-07:00

This is what you get when you have a cute daddy who will humor you on a Saturday morning:

Anna the Astronaut, and Emma the Sun. Emma calls her mask "eyes".

Tell me this doesn't make you smile?

Cute Astronaut. Exploring space from the safety of my own living room.

How I wish I could keep it like that for a long, long, time. Sigh...

Since I can't, I'm so grateful I get a front row seat.

Love these girls.

I know this isn't my craft blog, but...

2010-06-08T15:40:00.000-07:00

I'm just too excited and had to share my latest project! I just finished it 30 minutes ago, took pictures and I'm just in love. :) I will be posting them on Craft Envy on Friday, so I already have labels on the pictures, but it's still my project, and my kitchen, and I'm so giddy!

Just the pop of color my kitchen needed! It's been almost 3 weeks that I've been working on these, and I'm so happy to be done and admire them... I love crochet. Go visit my craft blog sometime if you haven't yet!

Happy Birthday Russ!

2010-06-07T19:40:00.000-07:00

Today we got to keep Russ home from work for a very special reason... it's his birthday!!!! We started the celebrations of Friday night, with a date night geared towards Russ's favorites: Red Robin and The Prince of Persia. Saturday he wanted a lazy day, which included staying in our pj's till noon, playing games and watching a very interesting documentary called

If you like satire and documentaries... give this a try.

On Sunday we had our family over for some more birthday fun. Anna made sure everyone who came over had brought her Daddy a card (as her Mommy blushed).

Russ got to blow out his candles on a yummy banana cream pie, and we all had a fun time visiting. We were actually very excited because we had two first time visitors to our home yesterday:

That's our niece Kate! Isn't she a chunky, delicious thing? We were so happy to have her visit her uncle Russ for his birthday. She didn't come alone though,

There's Madi! Check out the rolly arms! Oh I love babies! Anna and Emma had the funnest time loving their cousins. Anna couldn't tell them apart (she's not the only one) so she referred to them as "this one" and "that one" a lot... We'll have to teach her to look for the bracelets to tell them apart. She kissed them a ton, and loved them a lot. Emma just tried to steal their blankets the entire time. That's her way of welcoming them to the family, right? ;)

Today Daddy started his day out with a delicious breakfast, and a bit of shopping around for his birthday. He ended up not buying anything (why am I not surprised) but made several very sensible plans for the future of his birthday money. He's the ying to my yang. :)

For dinner Anna and I brought Russ a surprise:

That is his favorite sandwich in the entire world, the Sicilian from Gandolfo's. We had to end the day on a wonderful note, right? We got a candle (the only one I had around, don't judge) and sang to him. Anna made sure he made a wish.

"But don't tell us what it is, Daddy, or it won't come true!"

We are so lucky to have another year of RUSS! There couldn't be three girls more in love with the same man! :) Thank you for being so lovable, and thank you being ours. Happy Birthday Russinho!

Goodbye Preschool

2010-06-07T13:06:00.000-07:00

It's official. Anna is done with Preschool. I am so glad she had the chance to have this time to grow and learn and make friends and especially to learn to love school! Russ and I both take school very seriously in our home, and we were always thrilled to see Anna excited about doing her "homework" or reading her books for school. We loved seeing her art work and her assignments she brought home from school, and we loved all the fun things she had to share with us.

Here is Anna with her teacher, Ms. Janene. Can I just tell you how much we love Ms. Janene? I already told her we'll see her in a couple of years when Emma starts Preschool. I wouldn't dream of taking her anywhere else.

Now we have an entire summer to play and have fun. Just me and my girls.

And Daddy when he gets home from work... :)

My best friend the Magic Eraser

2010-05-28T15:17:00.000-07:00

This is Emma, asleep in the car. Yes, she is hugging a sponge, a magic eraser. She is in love with it. She calls it "Clean". This morning she saw me cleaning a "picture" she made on the floor with crayons, and was just fascinated. I gave her a sponge of her very own and she won't let it go. "Where Clean?" "Where Clean go?", she asks when she can't find it.

Anna was asking me, "why is Emma holding a sponge, Mommy?" We had just picked her up from Preschool, and she finds her sister passed out and hugging a sponge... I would wonder too!

These two are my everything.

Anna's First Ballet Recital!

2010-05-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

Can I just say, my Anna is just waaaaay too cute? She had her recital a few days a go, this was her first year of ballet. She has so much fun! Her little class practiced really hard and danced to "A Dream is a Wish" from Cinderella. It was just too much fun! I just love little girls.

Here is a picture of the practice:

Good stretch Anna!

And these are from the actual recital:

She didn't fall here, she's just the last one to "wake up" from the "wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep"... :)

What a princess! Sweet, beautiful Anna posing for a picture for Mommy. Such a cute ballerina!

Now she's annoyed. Enough with the pictures Mommy!

I can't even tell you how proud I was of our little girl. She did wonderful, and we look forward to all her future accomplishments, to encourage her and support her and take way too many pictures.

Anna is 5!

2010-05-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

We have had such a busy time lately, I can't forgive myself for taking so long to update our blog! Our little girl is growing up! Anna's birthday was on May 10th, and we had a blast having a party for her with lots of little friends from church and school. She had a blast!

Her birthday theme was Disney Pixar's Up. Here are some friends coloring the adventure books they got to make! Anna is wearing her daddy's badges just like Russell did in the movie! ;)

Anna's sidewalk art

She's just too cute! :)

Time for bowling

Anna about to make a strike!

It's official, she's 5!

Make a wish Princess Anna!

Friends, cupcakes, ice cream and Cheetos! :) So fun!

Opening all the awesome gifts she received from her friends. Anna is so loved!

Hit that Pinata hard, Anna, we want candy!

Jack wishing he could run as fast as the other kids and grab some candy! :) Next year, buddy. Next year.

Bubbles! Best way to end a party.

Anna, you're 5! Mommy and Daddy are just so lucky that Heavenly Father sent you to us. Happy Birthday to the most beautiful, wonderful, smartest, funnest, sweetest, kindest, loveliest Anna I've ever met! :) You're my favorite Anna!

Easter weekend and our very first Big Girl Bike!

2010-04-07T14:27:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter everyone!

Anna and Emma had a great time searching for eggs around the house. We had to keep the festivities indoors this year. Utah was freezing! After we ran around and found all our eggs and baskets, the doorbell rang... one last gift from the Easter Bunny:

Anna's very first big girl bike! She's finally ready to get started and I wish this picture had sound! She was thrilled!

Happy as can be! (The funny thing is that this bike ended up being too small for her, and we had to exchange it, which was hard to explain, since we grabbed the receipt and took her and the bike to Walmart to get the right size. We're friends with the Easter Bunny, we help each other out...)

Emma also got a "bika" as she calls it. It's more like her sister's trike that now belongs to Emma. And so it begins... someday she will complain that she got the old bike and Anna got the new bike. Well Emma, look at this picture, you didn't care! You loved it! And we love you!

Family ready to ride our bikas! It was soooo cold outside!

Daddy gives Anna the rules and tips before letting her try.

And Emma had a blast just pushing the bika with her feet.

Here we go! I think Russ is getting ready to go inside... In his defense, he had a challenging job with a very sensitive child. They both did well,

Look at the two most beautiful little girls ever created! Anna and Emma. My princesses! I LOVE this picture.

There you have it. A fun time was had by all this Easter, and now we have two little girls on wheels, so watch out!

Interesting things around the house

2010-03-24T10:29:00.000-07:00

And all before 8 am. First:

Emma in her snuggies, running around with my shoes on.

Then, as I'm getting dressed, and I'm about to put my shoes on, I get greeted by this:

Hello dolly. May I have my shoe back?

When I think I'm ready enough, and decide to get the girls ready, I find out Emma is not quite finished yet:

She needs to finish shaving. You know how 20 month olds get that thick beard... especially little girls.

Join me next time for the great adventures of: Getting Ready for the Day - The Sperry Way.

Tchau! :)

More bedtime insights with Anna

2010-03-07T19:33:00.001-08:00

I was gone last week on a trip to Florida (which Anna confused with Canada). On an interesting discussion, Anna told Mommy this week that dying means falling asleep and your prince is stuck in Florida and cannot kiss you to wake up.

Well, while I was in Florida we used our web camera to chat and see eachother - which was new for the girls and got Anna thinking. After I returned, I was putting Anna to bed with the following conversation:

Anna: Daddy? Does Jesus use a computer?
Daddy (caught offguard): What do you mean Anna?
Anna: Well Heavenly Father and Jesus can always see and hear us.
(Daddy has been working with Anna to understand that our prayers are really heard, and I realized she is really understanding this and taking it on faith, but had finally discovered an explanation that made sense to her).
Daddy: That's right Anna. They do hear and see us, but I don't think they need a computer to do that. But I bet that they know all about how to use computers too!

Bedtime Discussion with Anna

2010-03-07T19:17:00.000-08:00

Anna: Daddy do you want to sleep with Fluffy tonight? (fluffy is a stuffed dog)
Daddy: Thank you Anna, but I don't need to sleep with fluffy because I get to hug mommy when I go to sleep. That's what happens when you get married.
Anna: Oh.
Daddy: Goodnight Anna. I love you. (Goes to close the door)
Anna: Daddy?
Daddy: Yes?
Anna: How do I know which one to marry?
Daddy (a little surprised, and smiling): What do you mean Anna?
Anna: Daddy, I don't know which one to choose. There are so many!
Daddy: It's ok Anna, you are only 4 you have plenty of time to just have fun and not worry about it.
Anna: But Daddy, how do I know which one to choose?
Daddy: Don't worry Anna, when you are older you will know who the right one is. You will feel it in your heart and in your mind, and when you pray to Heavenly Father.
Anna: Daddy? I will have to go to every house tomorrow and knock on all the doors to find out!
Daddy (smiling): Anna, how old are you?
Anna: Four.
Daddy: Daddy is thirty four, that is a lot older. You don't have to worry about getting married at least until you are eighteen, maybe thirty.
Anna: Ok. Daddy? Can I marry you?
Daddy (smiling): Anna, Daddy is married to Mommy.
Anna: Can you marry me too?
Daddy: Hmmm, then I would'nt get to be your Daddy. I really like being your Daddy. Don't you want me to be your Daddy?
Anna: Yeah. How will I know who to choose?
Daddy: Someday when you are a lot older you will find a wonderful prince, but for now you should have fun and enjoy being Anna, ok?
Anna: Ok.
Daddy: I love you Anna. Goodnight.
Anna: I love you Daddy. Goodnight.

Yes, we are still alive

2010-02-21T18:38:00.000-08:00

It has been forever since I've updated our blog. On my defense, life has been more than crazy the last couple of months. Since this is a happy blog, I'll just update you on the happy things, sounds good?

One of the biggest things this new year:

Emma is going to Nursery!!!

My baby is a big girl now! She loves nursery too. First day we took her she ran right in, didn't miss me at all, participated in the lesson, sat on her chair like a big girl, fought off the bigger kids like a little champ, and even caused some trouble of her own! How do I know all this you ask? I spent the rest of church peeking through the peep hole. She didn't cry at all, but I did. What a big girl she is! My baby is not such a baby anymore. Not only that, but she didn't even miss me. :( That hurt a little. But I'm over it now! It's wonderful to be able to sit through the meetings again!

Here is Anna, and... can you find Russ in this picture? Anna was showing us the word "camouflage" and what it meant. Daddy was hidden in between all the toys, so you couldn't see him, just like the bugs, right Mommy? :)

What have I been up to? I've been really busy working on a little venture of my own. Nicholette and I have started this really cute craft blog! We are getting pretty popular, too, yesterday we had 2983 hits! Just in one day! I guess people like to see our work. Of course, we are hoping this will be a lucrative past time, but for now, we are enjoying the fun of keeping our blog growing and doing something we love, which is crafting! So if you haven't checked out my blog yet, click on the picture below and tell me what you think!

Christmas Morning

2009-12-30T15:55:00.000-08:00

We don't have a lot of pictures of Christmas morning, we had a lot of fun filming the entire event instead. Here are a few highlights:

Santa had put all the gifts under the tree around 11pm, just to make sure all the little ones were fast asleep. Everything ready for the morning! A very special elf, who shall remain nameless(ok, his name starts with an R...) took about 4 hours putting that little kitchen together. Amazing job mystery elf! Also, notice how the tree only had decorations on its' top half. Emma wouldn't leave any ornaments alone this year...

Anna in all her amazement Christmas morning! She woke us up at 6:45am to let us know Santa had come! We all hurried out of bed to see all the wonderful gifts!

Poor Emma couldn't quite understand what all the commotion was about. We had to wake her up to join us, and she was very unhappy at first, until she saw that kitchen!

They played with this big beautiful kitchen for almost 4 hours straight! They loved it! I have to admit that Russ and I were just as excited about Christmas morning. I didn't sleep very well, I was to anxious to see their little faces! Both Russ and I agree that better than anything that we received this Christmas, was to see the joy and excitement of our little girls' faces. This Christmas really was merry!

Christmas Eve Fun!

2009-12-30T15:44:00.000-08:00

This year we got to spend Chritmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa at their house and we had lots of fun with our aunts and uncles and cousin!

Anna and Emma enjoying some delicious treats at Grandma and Grandpa's. Cute Emma has her face covered in dip. In her defense, it was delicious, and if I could I would have gone in head first in that dip bowl!:)

Isn't this the cutest picture ever! Grandma Sperry and all her little grandkids sharing a big hug! Anna, Emma and Jack are just too cute for words. I love this picture!

The annual Christmas cars race! They all have their little race cars, Santa against Frosty, against Rudolph... you never know who will win. (And I didn't wait around to find out, I was in the back talking... sorry).

See? I was super busy talking to Jeanne and Emma. We were having some great girl talk!

John, Nicholette and Jack. The cute Sperrys. Love you guys!

Jeanne and Jake, the cute Prestwiches! Love them!

Anna, Russ, Vanessa and Emma. The Super Sperrys!!!

Grandma and Grandpa Sperry! We love you!!! Thanks for a wonderful Christmas Eve!

Anna and Emma put on a show for us on their "stage" in front of the fireplace. It was more like Anna putting on a show and Emma just copying everything Anna did.

I love these two so much!!! My greatest creations, right there! :)

Preschool Program!

2009-12-30T15:32:00.000-08:00

On December 22nd we had the pleasure of watching Anna and her preschool class do a Christmas program for us! They were adorable! They sang lots of Christmas songs and all had little parts that they memorized from "Twas the night before Christmas". Anna's part was "When what to my wondering eyes shall appear, but a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer". We worked on it the entire month, and in spite of a lot of coaching, what we ended up hearing the night of the program was "But what to my wonderful eyes shall appear, but a miniature sleigh, and like eight tiny reindeer!" We loved it! She was confident and ready, went right up to the microphone and did a wonderful job! Here are some of our favorite pictures:

There she is, in the black and white dress. They have this cute background, and they were singing Rudolph with their little antlers! She knew all the words and sang very enthusiastically!

Some more Rudolph singing! This was her favorite song!

What a cute little Christmas angel!

Here's a wider view of the background. Ms. Janene is setting up still, I wish I had her facing forward... We love Ms. Janene, she's been a great preschool teacher!

Grandma and Grandpa, Vovo Nisi and Vovo Dutra, Tia and Tio, and Nicholette all came out to support Anna on her big day! Thanks for coming everyone, you are so sweet!

Reindeer Cookies!

2009-12-30T15:21:00.000-08:00

This year we just might have started a tradition! After seeing these adorable cookies made by my friend Jyl, I decided to make them with Anna, they just look like so much fun!

Aren't these so cute? This is a peanut butter cookie recipe, and we added the m&m's and pretzels to make the reindeer!

Anna did a wonderful job giving all the reindeer cookies some eyes, nose, and antlers. Some were Rudolph, some were not.

Finished product! They look good enough to eat! We made a whole bunch of them!

Anna decided that we didn't need so many cookies just for ourselves, so we put them in plates and shared them with our family, because we love them! We knocked on their door and sang "Rudolph the red nosed reindeer" and gave them cookies, and we received a lot of praises for our singing and our cookies! We had so much fun that we will repeat this event again next year, so look for us at your door in 2010! :)

Christmas Cards

2009-12-30T15:13:00.000-08:00

This year we decided we didn't need to get professional pictures made for our Christmas cards, so we tried a few times... these are our attempts:

This was kind of okay, Emma looks very serious and Anna's smile looks very forced. We'll try again.

Again, Emma very serious, everyone else pretty good, but still very forced smile. I didn't like it.

This is the one we chose! Everyone looks sincerely happy, even Anna in her small smile looks a little better than her forced one. If I hadn't deleted the awful ones I'd post them just for fun. Still, here we are, the Sperry family, Christmas 2009!

Anna's first ballet "recital"

2009-12-30T15:05:00.000-08:00

So this event actually took place on December 8th, and since life has been crazy this month, I'm only now catching up on blogging. Anna's ballet class had a little recital for parents only, in her ballet studio. She had lots of fun, until she bonked her head on a balance bar and pouted the rest of the time. But everything leading up to that tragic accident was just wonderful!

Here she is, so excited and ready to dance!

This is Anna a little bit before her accident. She jumped up and hit her head on that bar. So sad. But she was really adorable here!

This is more towards the end of her recital, still a little sad, but cute none the less.

Good job Anna, we are so proud of you and all the beautiful things you are learning to do!

Santa Claus!

2009-12-06T15:54:00.000-08:00

This last Saturday we joined my family in Provo for their ward's Christmas party, and the kids had so much fun! This was the first Santa of the season! Very exciting moment.

Anna has become very fond of posing lately, and we love it! Check Emma out in the background eying that piece of pie! :)

Check out Emma's look of death! Do NOT take any more pictures, I'm done. hehehe. Even still, she's so cute.

Russ and I, just so we don't forget what we look like. Cute as always.

And here is the moment we've all been waiting for! Santa! Anna didn't lose any time telling him what she wants for Christmas. That pucker you see her making with her lips are about to say the words "Princess"! Anything princess is currently on her list! She loved meeting Santa.

And here was my favorite part, Emma's very first encounter with Santa in her little life! She stared at him long and hard, and you could tell she just couldn't make an opinion. Tough little cookie, though, not one tear was spilled! She's awesome! :) Just for that, I think Santa might be generous this year! :)

We loved our little outing last night, and can't wait to see what else this Christmas season brings.

Let the Season begin!

2009-12-01T07:04:00.000-08:00

For FHE last night we had a great time decorating our Christmas tree! Anna had fun putting things on, Emma had fun taking things off. :) They are soooo excited about this tree! I love Christmas time now that we have little ones in the house to make it magical! Here are some of the pictures from last night. (Sorry, my camera sucks, but Santa is not ready to bring me a new one, so... hehehe )

This is Emma after she found out the candy canes are not just decorations! :) Sticky stained little angel!

Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T15:00:00.000-08:00

Here is the beautiful Cornucopia that Anna made in school to celebrate Thanksgiving! She did a wonderful job! I wish I had a picture of our dinner to post with this entry, but since I was hosting at my home I was busy being the "perfect hostess" and didn't take any pictures. I do have to say that I was very grateful for the chance to celebrate Thanksgiving at my home and get to do most of the cooking. I'm not being sarcastic either, I actually am one of those weird people who enjoy the kitchen. I cooked for two days straight, and I have to say that I had a blast. Granted, I'm still cleaning up after the event, but it was worth it. Brining a turkey is the thing to do, let me tell ya! My leftovers are still juicy! And I found a wonderful sweet potato casserole recipe and got lots of compliments on it, so I'm happy.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I have to say I am so thankful for all the wonderful blessings that our family has received this past year, and continues on receiving. I'm thankful for family and friends, for being able to say that my family and my friends are the same group of people a lot of times, and that I never thought it would be so great to have that in my life, and in my children's lives. I have a beautiful family of four special people that love each other, respect each other, watch out for each other, fight with each other, play with each other, yell at each other, dance with each other, laugh with each other, cherish each other, and wouldn't have it any other way. We have so much to be grateful for!

Primary Presentation

2009-11-17T09:51:00.000-08:00

This is what I remembered when I looked at the pulpit this last Sunday and saw my little girl saying her part in the Primary Presentation. "My name is Anna Sperry, and I help build my eternal family". Can you see it? Can you see that tiny little baby saying that? Needless to say, I blubbered through the entire thing, pretty much. We were so proud of our big girl Anna, she had her part memorized and she spoke loud and clear into the microphone. Let's be honest... she spoke VERY loud and clear, and got a lot of chuckles from the congregation, but she did a great job!

You know, my days at home with my girls sometimes are very long, and I look forward to some quiet time everyday, but then you blink and your baby you just put down for a nap is standing at the pulpit on her very first Primary presentation.

Anna, you're just a joy in my life, I love how caring and loving you are. I love it that you tell me "I love you, Mommy" more times than I can count in a day. I love it that you say "excuse me" and "please" and "thank you" and are so polite. I love it that you take your dishes to the sink when you're done eating without my having to ask. I love how pretty you color your pictures. I love that you sing along to the Little Mermaid. Anna, I love you. You did a great job on your very first presentation, you are such a beautiful, brave, confident, happy little girl!

Anna's advice to Santa Claus

2009-11-09T06:39:00.000-08:00

Anna's only request for Christmas so far, has been a white, fluffy dog. She talks about it constantly, which cause us, her parents, to really start considering it. We were almost sold on the idea, but finally decided that Emma needs some time to grow more, so she can push the dog away if she wants too and all that. Right now she'd be easily knocked down by a dog. Anyway, as we thought of how to break the news that maybe Santa would not be able to bring a dog this year, we came up with this idea:

Vanessa: Anna, I talked to Santa Claus today! We were talking about what you wanted for Christmas and I told him you wanted a dog!

Anna: What did he say? What did he say?

Vanessa: Well sweetie, Santa said that during Christmas time, it's just too cold for brand new puppies to go outside to go potty! They would be so cold and would cry! We don't want the puppy to be cold and cry, do we?

Anna: No... we don't. (Silence and a very thoughtful little look on her cutie pie face)

Anna: Mommy, I have an idea! You tell Santa that he can bring the dog, and then he can just bring him a coat! Then the puppy won't be cold! Isn't that a great idea???

Vanessa: (Stumped) Well.... let me talk to Santa, I'll get back to you.

So there you have it. Foiled by my 4 year old. Any ideas on what Santa should say next? Because I sure am stuck!

The last Halloween Post

2009-11-05T10:24:00.001-08:00

Ok, here is our last Halloween adventure, the actual Halloween night! We had lots of fun trick or treating in our neighborhood, our neighbors are great! We had the entire Wizard of Oz group with us, and we had lots of fun. I’ll let you enjoy the pictures.

Kudos to Russ for making that awesome Tin Man costume himself, out of diaper boxes, duct tape and spray paint. Pretty cool, huh?

Halloween part II

2009-11-02T14:00:00.000-08:00

For our second Halloween event this season, we went to Grandma Sperry's ward for their Trunk or Treat. It was so much fun!

Here's Daddy and little monkey Emma enjoying the delicious chili dinner the ward provided. Cute!

Here we are, the Wizard of Oz gang! John, Nicholette, Jack, Vanessa and Anna. Very fun. I've always wanted to be a wicked witch, this is my first time getting to do it believe it or not.

Daddy and Emma and Grandma! Grandma is a very cute Mrs. Halloween, isn't she? Don't mind Emma, she's eating.

Jeanne, Jake and Daisy joined in the fun. I bet you can't guess what they dressed up as! Jeanne is married and Jake is handsome! :) That's what Anna said, anyway. Daisy... well, Daisy is the cutest, no costume necessary!

I don't know what this picture was about, but we all came up so funny on it! Grandma had her trunk all decorated for the event, and handed out lots of candy!

Mommy had cool tights, Anna had cool shoes. This is us showing them off. Isn't Anna the most adorable Dorothy ever? She sure is!

What is Russ dressed up as you ask? Grandpa Sperry! That's Grandpa's coat and hat, and he just made a silly face... Don't worry, he'll dress up too, just wait for the next post.

So here is part 2 of our Halloween fun this year! I'll soon post the rest of our adventure. It was so much fun!

The real reason we wear shoes!

2009-10-27T10:29:00.000-07:00

Anna: Daddy can you help me put on my socks and shoes?
Daddy: Sure. (Daddy helps put Anna's socks on)
Daddy: I can see why you want socks to keep warm. But we're inside now, why do you need shoes?
Anna: Because sometimes you and John tickle my feet!

(Daddy Smiles. How did I overlook this obvious line of reasoning!)

Happy Anniversary!

2009-10-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

This week we are celebrating our anniversary - taking Monday and Tuesday off work! Vanessa got a fun new haircut and is picking a cute outfit for Russ (me) for my gift.

We went to the Draper temple recently, and it just does not seem like that long ago that we met at BYU, were dating, and got married in Porto Alegre, and set off on this great adventure. 2 beautiful fun daughters later several moves later, I count myself a very fortunate man for how life with Vanessa has grown more and more beautiful.

-Russ

Pre- Halloween Fun

2009-10-24T13:29:00.000-07:00

And so it begins, the fun that comes only through sugar and costumes. Yes, it's Halloween time! I'd like to share with you some of the Halloween centered activities we've had so far. Crazy eyes Anna! She is enjoying a delicious pumpkin face doughnut. Love all that orange and black icing. First treat of the season!

Emma had the exact same type of doughnut, but for some reason, she really liked the black icing more... I love messy food pictures. :)

This is Dorothy with her ruby slippers at Vovo Nisi's ward. We went to their Fall Festival and had a blast! Anna looks very cute as Dorothy, doesn't she?

Good job hitting the pinata Anna! She got some good treats!

This is the cutest little monkey you have ever seen. You know it's true! Emma had fun walking around and seeing what all the other kids were up to.

Here was Emma's favorite person of the night. Vovo Nisi! She didn't want anyone else.

Cute girls all around! Thanks Vovo Nisi and Tia for inviting us to come over to your fun party, we had a blast!

And very soon we will have lots more on our Halloween adventures!

Anna's point of view

2009-10-21T07:25:00.000-07:00

My scanner isn't working right now, unfortunately, or else I'd post the picture that I'm about to discuss. I've been going through old pictures of Russ and I, and I left out this picture of Russ in high school, which Anna happened to find. Russ was with her at the time, and they had this conversation:
Anna: Daddy, who's this?
Russ: That's Daddy when he was younger.
Anna: That's you?
Russ: Yes.
Anna: (after a small reflecting moment) I don't love this Daddy. (Pointing at the picture)
Russ: You don't love this Daddy?
Anna: No
Russ: Why not?
Anna: Because he has too much hair!
:) :) :) LOL!!!

Girls Dance Party!

2009-10-16T16:15:00.001-07:00

I know this is silly, but I had to make a record of the fact that today for the first time I was able to dance and goof around with my two girls! Let me explain. Anna and I often turn the radio on and just dance like silly girls that we are, while Emma just sits and claps, or is being held by me. Today, Emma just took off walking and dancing all by herself in the middle of the room! We had a blast! Some of my dearest memories growing up are of dancing around the house with my mom and sister, for no reason at all. For some reason this just really touched me today. I guess I felt like my life has gone full circle, and I am now doing the same fun things with my own kids, and it took me by surprise, does that make sense? I am happy to inform that dancing around the house is just as fun as a Mommy as it was as a daughter. And my girls can shake it with the best of them! Drop by and join us sometime, it'll be fun! :)

What Heaven Sees In You

2009-10-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

I happened to find this slideshow by chance yesterday as I was preparing my Activity Days Group activity, and I can't get this song out of my head. I can't help but think of my two precious little girls. I hope they grow up knowing how much they are loved, how valuable they are, how divine their heritage is. I also am aware of the fact that it will be through me that they will come to these realizations, and I feel even more dedicated to giving them my very best every day. After all, these little spirits were entrusted to me.

I also think of myself, my journey through this life so far, and how wonderful it is to be reminded of my own worth, and my own divine heritage. If you're a girl, and you're reading this, you should definetly watch this slideshow.

Sorry for my absence

2009-10-07T12:31:00.000-07:00

Life has been sort of going on automatic lately, and I really don't have a lot to share about us. Anna is enjoying school, Emma is growing lots and almost walking, Russ and I decided to diet together and have lost a lot of weight (we're looking good), and we are getting ready for Halloween. I love this time, I look forward to the leaves changing and the cold creeping in, and all the holidays and goodies we get to enjoy.

More on the Sperry's soon, as soon as I get inspired!

Going to the Fair

2009-09-17T18:19:00.001-07:00

This past weekend we took the kids to the state fair to see the animals and play on the rides and eat junk. It was great! Here is Anna and Russ ready for their first challenge.
Come on guys, you can do it, hit it really hard!!! You're so strong!!!
Winner!!! Princess Anna gets the prize! She loves that hammer and we play with it every night now.
She also got to race in a really fast car, she was so excited about this, and picked out the ride probably because it made her think of Lightning McQueen, but she was a little tense, maybe a little too fast for her. Still, no tears, so we were very proud.
Anna gets to ride a pony! She was so cute about it, and so excited! She kept saying "giddy up" the entire time, and "yee haw!" Very cute. I think this picture is so funny. Russ, did you step on something? Hmmmm.
There they are. So cute together. Anna felt very safe having daddy walk beside her and hold her hand. I think Daddy was quite proud to get to walk next to such a princess!
This is Emma watching Anna ride the pony. I love her expression, just awed by these little ponies walking round and round.
Here's Anna at her next pick, the hot air balloon ride. She was so happy to try it, she went up and down and round and round, and had a blast!
Yay Anna! You're so cute!
This is what Emma had to say at the end of our adventure: ZZZZZZZ! She fell asleep before we left the parking lot! Good sport, Emma!

We saved the best for last. When we stopped for lunch, the only place we could find to sit down was near a little Mexican party, we were near their stage, and we could hear their music playing the entire time. This is how Emma feels about the music, you've got to watch this!

Fondant Lesson

2009-09-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

My very first lesson in decorating cakes with fondant. It's amazing how simple it was, and how fun it was! John was a great teacher in the arts of fondant making. It's sticky stuff, let me tell ya!

Excuse me, we're working here!

For the second part of my lesson, the actual decorating, I was under Nicholette's skilled teaching. She made that awesome Mario. I made the clouds. Don't look to closely, ok? Isn't it cute?

On the sides of the cake we added some more fun Mario stuff, aren't Nicholette's bricks just awesome? I made the bushes. Again, don't look too close.

Fondant cakes are so much fun! They've made a fan out of me, and I can't wait to do this again. What was Russ doing during all this Mario cake making you ask?

He felt inspired. He beat the game! He saved the Princess, with a little Mario none the less! Wow Russ, you rocked it! Anna calls Mario Running bear, we can't make her see that he's an actual man. When she saw the cake she said "Wow, that's my darling Running Bear!" Poor Mario.

Jack's baby blessing

2009-09-15T11:31:00.000-07:00

Check out the little man! Jack's baby blessing was on September 6th, and we felt privileged to be a part of it. How wonderful to have another little person in our family! Isn't this the cutest little face? I have a "Jack addiction" it's very hard to control, so I've quit trying. I just love this kid! Doesn't he look dapper in his little outfit?

I love this picture. Anna was trying to get Jack to smile, and it was so cute to see them interact. He was really interested in what she had to say there.

Congratulations John and Nicholette on your beautiful, scrumptious baby boy!

Happy Birthday to me!

2009-09-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to me! My birthday was September 2nd, and I got to celebrate in so many wonderful ways. Russ gave me a "mommy vacation" which included a hotel stay and all the treats I could have wanted. I went out to dinner, saw a movie, got a pedicure, read a book and slept in late! Did I say I got to sleep in late? Yup, it's true. Best birthday gift ever. My family in Provo got together to have a delicious meal, with lots of meat included, of course. It was wonderful!

Here is my little brother and I goofing around. Love this kid. Tio gave me a very cute jacket (and Tia Pri too) for my birthday, I can't wait till it gets colder so I can wear it.

On the actual day of my birthday, I get surprised by John and Nicholette with this beauty! Don't you love my Brazil cake? I loved it! It was delicious, but it sure hurt to cut into something so pretty!

I loved my cake!!!

I also had a very fun treasure hunt made by Daddy and Anna to find all kinds of very fun presents all through the house. I wish I had saved the maps they made me. It was so cute to see Anna try and keep from telling me where she hid the gifts, but excitement got the better of her.

I have to say I totally had a blast for my birthday, and I got such thoughtful gifts from my family this year. Russ was wonderful, my mom and dad gave me a rice cooker, which I've been wanting for a long time, John and Nicholette not only made me an awesome cake, but Nicholette picked up some awesome jewelery for me, including a pair of earings I had showed her weeks before and told her I was in love with (and I happen to be wearing right as I type this). Jeanne and Jake gave me Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, which brought me to tears. Yes, I cried over a cookbook. I love it so much! Mom and Dad Sperry took us out to lunch at Braza grill and she gave me this totally cute leather purse that I had actually gone to pick out with her under the impression that Mom was going to keep it! Very sneaky! I loved it! I love gifts that show people are paying attention to you, does that make sense? I loved all the gifts, but even more, I love the fact that my loved ones were so thoughtful. Thank you all so much. You've touched me deeply right here (I'm pointing at my heart). :)

Major X Anna Minor Batonder

2009-09-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

Meet the newest superhero. Major X Anna Minor Batonder. Anna dressed herself up like this one Saturday morning and then told us that was her name. She made this up. We thought it was hilarious! We love Major X Anna Minor Batonder, even though we have no idea what it means. We love our Super Anna!

Depeche Mode Concert

2009-09-10T16:51:00.000-07:00

I am so behind on posting it's not even funny. I have so much to catch up on, so hold on to your hats. For Russ' birthday back in June I gave him tickets to a Depeche Mode concert. He's always loved the band and was very excited to go. This is Russ and I making very mysterious faces as to represent the mood some Depeche Mode songs put you in.
Pensive, mysterious. We think we're so cool!

Here are some of our favorite parts of the show. It really was an awesome stage, and they did a lot of impressive stuff with lights and special effects.

Russ enjoying one of his favorite songs. I'm so glad he got to do this! Love you lots cute Russ.

This was one of my favorite things they did during the show. It looked like a typewriter and as they sang, the words to a poem was written in the back.

If you're wondering why I haven't mentioned any of my favorite songs, it's because I didn't know a thing about Depeche Mode, to be honest. There were maybe a couple of songs I knew, and it was awesome, but don't ask me for details, I really don't remember. It was really an awesome concert to go to, though, even if you've not that acquainted with the band.

It was a GREAT experience, and now Russ and I are planning our next concert!

Anna the Ballerina!

2009-08-20T10:45:00.001-07:00

And so it begins! All the cute, fun things about having little girls! Anna's first day of ballet. This is her class at Kaleidoscope Dance Studio, and her teacher, for now, is Ms. Liz. Ms. Liz is going to have a baby soon, but you wouldn't think so from seeing her move around! Anna loves her ballerina outfit!
Ops, just a little accident. She had just told me, "Don't worry Mommy, I'm okay!"
There she is. Sweet little ballerina! She had a blast!
Everyone learning to walk on their tippy toes like a princess!
And the princess walk again! Anna was concentrating so hard on getting just the toes down, it was very cute to watch her.
Anna's turn to shine with Ms. Liz, as she got to do the princess walk all by herself! Good job!
A little fun with wands. After all, they are 4!
Skipping, tip toeing, back and forth! She kept saying "I'm so excited, I'm so excited!"
Everyone paying attention. Very focused...
But not for long... hahahaha! Anna, I love you! This is so much fun, I think I'm enjoying it just as much as she is!

Lost in Translation

2009-08-17T06:37:00.001-07:00

Yesteday mornning, Mommy, Anna and Emma were running around getting ready for church, as Daddy stayed in bed. Eventually we all decided he had to get up, so Mommy says to Anna:
"Anna, will you go in my room and tell Daddy that Mommy is gonna crack the whip?"
Anna runs into my room and says to Russ:
"Daddy, Mommy says she's going to crap the lip!"

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!