chase the flames

 Ever since Savanna has been born I have been trying to get back into shape.  I run every single morning during her morning nap.  Heidi has learned to use this time to read to her animals.  Although I haven't seen my body get back to where I would like it to be, it has certainly helped my sanity!  In any event, I have been thrilled for summer and the start of all the races!

 We ran a 5k in town this morning and were excited about the kid's fun run that followed.  Savanna slept for most of the 5k and while Heidi enjoyed our race, the fun run was definitely the highlight of her day.

 Boy oh boy did we have fun watching her run this little obstacle course.  She was excited to put her racing number on and had a blast chasing the kids.

 She had a huge grin on her face the entire time and just about everyone was commenting on how adorable she is.  This was a race to benefit the fire department and all the firefighters were getting quite a kick out of our pint sized little ham.

Jeff showing Heidi which way to go through the cones.

One of her favorite events was jumping over the logs.  She would step on them and then jump when she got back on the grass.  It was very funny.

 Afterwards she told us that was hard work and that she was very tired...even though the race probably took a total of 6 minutes or less!  This picture reminds me of something funny she said not related to this picture.  When we headed out for a walk the other morning she said, "Mom, don't forget my water.  I don't want to get dehydrated."  The vocabulary on this child cracks me up.

 Savanna was sweet and content as usual.  She loved watching the kids run their little race and enjoyed our race as well.  She loves to be outside so we knew she would have a fun morning.

 The biggest bummer of the race was that they didn't start until 9:30.  Considering the heat wave we have been having, it was quite warm for a race.  We are hoping they start earlier next year!  We were all pretty overheated by the time they started the raffle and I ended up a major, nasty migraine.  Blasted heat.

Heidi ended up winning some coupons for pizza at the raffle.  She was more than a little thrilled.  It was pretty funny that she is the one who won.  She was pretty excited about racing like mommy and daddy and we hope this is the start of a long running career for her and we can't wait until Savanna can join the fun racing too!

a weekend away

We have spent way too much time working on the yard the last two months.  Since it is finally in, we decided to spend some time together as a family.  Jeff took Friday off of work and we headed to Utah to visit grandma and grandpa, go to the zoo, and run a few errands.

 The girls loved the zoo.  We were a little disappointed in the lack of animals, but perhaps when the new African exhibit is finished there will be more to see.  Either way, Savanna was happy to find her name on a sign.

 Heidi was excited to see all the animals and we enjoyed watching her and listening to her little comments about each animal.

 Watching the rhinos with daddy.  "Oh!  Look!  Those two are friends!  How cute!"

 We were happy to have grandma and grandpa join us.

 Heidi was excited to see she was as big as a juvenile gorilla.

 Heidi can now say she has officially been to the Hogle zoo since she has a picture of herself in the lion drinking fountain.

 My little gorillas.

After the zoo grandma spoiled Heidi with a popsicle....glad we stripped her down because she sure made a mess while enjoying every bite!

 This picture is out of order and I can't get it in the right place, but it is probably my favorite from the day.  My two little baby birds enjoying a beautiful day at the zoo!  So glad we had a chance to do something other than yard work!

dad's day

 I love father's day.  Such a great day to remember and be thankful for all the wonderful men in our lives.  I am so grateful to my dad.  He is the sweetest, most sensitive, loving man.  He calls to check on me and the girls weekly.  I am so grateful to my father-in-law.  He is such a hard worker and I am so grateful he raised such a wonderful son.  I love seeing him with my girls.  I am so grateful to Jeff.  My girls totally hit the jackpot with their dad.  He is so dedicated to them and finds so much joy in everything they do.  He works so hard to give us such a wonderful life.

I asked Heidi some questions about her dad.  As part of his father's day we let him take a nap.  She wasn't crazy about this as you will see by her responses.

Me: What is dad's name?
Heidi: Jeff.  Your name is Beth, mom.  Can I go wake up dad now?

Me:  What do you like to play with dad?
Heidi: Probably legos.  Can I go wake up dad now?  I think he wants to play legos with me.

Me: What does dad like to eat?
Heidi: Ice cream.  Uh huh.  He loves ice cream.  He eats it every night I think.  I'm going to go wake up dad now.

 Me: What does dad call you?
Heidi: Heidi Magdalena Biffins Hunziker.  'Cause I biff it.  See?  I will biff it right now.

Me: What does dad do at work?
Heidi: Does he look at pipes or something?  I think so.  He does sprinklers everyday when he's home.  Is dad in his bed?  Can I go wake him up right now?

Me: What are dad's favorite books?
Heidi: He loves Critter books, doesn't he?

Me: What does dad do when you aren't around?
Heidi: He would feel so sad.  I better go wake up dad, okay mom?

Love this picture of Grandpa getting father's day snuggles!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads in our lives!
We love you!

a yard

 It's a been a long two months...especially for Jeff.  Raking rocks, digging trenches, sprinklers, more raking, laying top soil, oh and more raking rocks.  It has been exhausting and every night for the last two months we have talked about and dreamed about how great it would be to finally have a yard.

 Today was the day all the hard work paid off.  We are soooo grateful to all of our family, friends, and neighbors who showed up and helped lay 11,400 square feet of sod in under 2 hours.  Boy are we blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives.

 Savanna has been enjoying her first experiences with grass.  While we were laying the sod she started getting a cranky when it was close to nap time and the bouncy seat just wasn't cutting it anymore.  I sat her on the grass and she couldn't have been happier.  I think she knows many great memories are waiting to be made in this yard.

Then there was Heidi.  Oh my.  She has been pleading for a yard and she is not disappointed.  She has been running and playing all day.  She is in love with the sprinklers and couldn't wait to put her swimming suit on after her nap.  Tonight we just sat on the patio together feeling so incredibly happy and so incredibly relieved to have it done.  I cannot wait to spend every second we can enjoying the girls in our yard.  Hallelujah!

a day in the mountains

 This might possibly be my new favorite picture of Jeff and the girls.  You might just see it again in an upcoming dad's day post.  There are no words to express how much I love those three people.  Our ward had a camp out last weekend.

 We currently don't have a tent to accommodate our family, so we went up Saturday morning for the breakfast.  As you can see, Heidi was more than thrilled about having her picture taken--it's a new phase we are going through and it rocks...not.  Besides having her picture taken, she had an absolute BLAST!  They had a treasure hunt for the kids.  I had no idea how popular she was or that so many of the kids even knew who she was.  Every kid wanted Heidi to be their partner.  One of the sweet young women took her around and at every stop all the kids would say, "Wait for Heidi!  Let Heidi get the clue!"    When she tripped on a rock and loudly exclaimed, "WO BIFFINS!  Did you see me biff it?" I don't think anyone wasn't laughing.

If you're curious, Savanna was there as well.  She got snatched up the second we got out of the truck.  She is also a huge hit among the members in our ward.  Every Sunday when I walk down the hall the young women want to see her and comment on how adorable she is.  We absolutely love our ward and love how welcoming and kind everyone has been to us, and especially to our girls.

After the breakfast we went for a hike as a family.  It didn't last quite as long as we had planned since someone's shoes were too small.  ("My shoes are giving me a pain!")   Apparently Heidi's feet have grown in the last two weeks.  We had fun anyway and love spending time together in the beautiful Uinta mountains!

going private

The time has come.  The time is now.  Isn't that a phrase from something?  I can't put my finger on it, but I think it in my head and it makes me chuckle for some reason.  Is it from a funny movie?

I have decided to make our family blog private.  I have loved having it public because I have been able to connect with so many old friends that wouldn't have found me otherwise.  I like having it easily accessible to family and friends who love us and enjoy reading what we are up to.  However, the point of my blog is, and has always been, to document our lives and especially the lives of our children.  Every two years I publish my blog into a book and it has become such a source of joy for us as a  family.  We pull them out at least once a week and read together about the good times and the hard times.  We laugh at funny things our kids have done.  Most importantly, our blog is a way for me to express my deepest love for my children and my sweet husband.  It is a way for them to know how much joy they have brought into my life.  I hope that long after I am gone, they will read the books and remember fondly the times we shared together as a family and how much love we shared.

With that said, Jeff and I feel it is also important to protect our family so we will be making our blog private in one week.  Please leave me your email address if you would like to continue reading our blog.  Even if I don't know you personally or if you are a friend of a friend (I totally enjoy reading blogs of people I don't know), I will add you to our list.  Thanks to our many readers and supporters that have followed, loved, and watched our family grow these last 8 years!  We hope you will continue to be a part of our journey.

sticky fingers

 Heidi used to grab things at this age...but not like Savanna.  I could move something a little farther from her and she would quit trying.  Not Savanna.  I could give Heidi something else to distract her from what I didn't want her to grab.  Not Savanna.  That's why Jeff and I think Savanna is going to be quite the trouble maker as she becomes increasingly more mobile.

Savanna has some serious sticky fingers.  She knows exactly what she shouldn't have and will stop at absolutely nothing to grab it.  She can even be quite sneaky about it.  Like yesterday.  I had a handful carrots.  I picked her up and knew she would try to grab my snack.  I closed my hand around them.  When I glanced at Savanna a half second later she was happily gumming a carrot.  I didn't even feel her take it out of my closed my fist.  She's good...a little too good.  After Heidi got over Savanna having a carrot she shouldn't have ("Mom!!  You better take that carrot!!  Savanna doesn't have teeth!  She's going to choke!") she thought it was pretty hilarious ("Savanna!  You little grabby goo!  How did you get that carrot you little grabby sneaker hands?).

busy weekend

 Back in January my older brother, Eric, told us he was going to come visit at the end of May with his little boy, Jackson.  We were so excited.  Heidi is at the age where she absolutely loves to play with other kids, especially her cousins.  Eric had the kind of flight that makes you never, ever want to fly.  His plane was delayed from Kentucky to Chicago.  This caused him to miss his flight in Chicago.  He got on another flight, but the pilot never showed.  They kept delaying the flight and eventually cancelled it.  He and Jack spent the night (what was left of it) in the airport.  At 4:30 am he got on a flight to Denver and from Denver to Rock Springs, where I eventually picked him up.

 Of course, with all the cancellations and delays, his luggage was lost.  Late Friday night it made its way to our house.  He was very excited to have a change of clothes.

 We had no way of knowing when he scheduled his trip where we would be at with the yard. We didn't anticipate a late winter and thought the yard would already be in.  So he got to help lay and spread the top soil.  We were also lucky enough to have Jeff's parents come and help.  I seriously do not know what we would do without their help. Once the yard is in, they might actually get to come visit and just relax and play with the girls!

 We were happy Eric's luggage arrived because he had made Heidi this rocking chair.  She absolutely adores her special seat.  She likes to tell us what the letters are and that spell her name.  It is her very own reading chair and she spends a great majority of her day in the chair she got from her Uncle Eric.

Now when we ask her to do something, it's not uncommon for her to say, "I'm too busy rocking in my rocking chair."

We were grateful to all of our visitors that traveled to see us this weekend and we are so incredibly grateful for all the help we received getting our half acre ready for sod!!  We can't wait to have a yard!

seven months

 Yes, it has really been seven whole months since our sweet little Savanna joined our family.  I am not sure how another month seemed to sail by, but it did, and this little lady is one month older.  Oh how we love our blue eyed little girl.

*We still aren't sure what her hair will do.  It looks red in the sun.  It's definitely lighter than when she was born, but I am still holding out hope I will have a brunette.
*Not really making any consonant blends yet, more just squeals.

 *Has been sleeping a lot better, but I can't ever feel convinced that she has finally figured it out.  For the last two weeks she would nap from about 9am-10am, and again from 1-3pm and then sleep from about 7:30 to 6:30.  But then two nights ago she was up at 4 and last night midnight.  She has me totally stumped.
*Puts her bottom lip in her mouth a lot.
*Absolutely adores her sister.  She is so content as long as Heidi is close by.  As soon as Heidi leaves, she is a lot more fussy.
*Showing signs of teething, but has yet to pop out any teeth.

*Now refuses to take a bottle.  Oh boy.  I really wish she would sometimes.  She also absolutely refuses formula.
*Trying to crawl...I am soo not ready for her to be mobile!
*The absolute grabbiest, most determined baby I have ever met!  She will stop at nothing to grab for whatever it is she knows she should not have.
*Adores her dad...hallelujah!!  Let's hope that remains.  Her favorite people are in this order: 1. Heidi 2. Dad and 3. Mom
*She is so much easier when we can stick to her schedule and be home, but she is really adaptable if we have other things going on.
*Super social.  She will flirt and smile with anyone and everyone.  She hasn't shown too much separation anxiety yet.
*Not cuddly at all and really prefers not to be held.  It drives us nuts sometimes!  She will wiggle and squirm and try desperately to get out of your arms or at least into the most uncomfortable position you could possibly imagine.
*We don't think she really looks a whole lot like either one of us.  We think she definitely has more Jeff than me, but it's hard to tell if she will she will look totally like him or more of a mix.  What do you think?

We love her smile, we adore her laugh, and we are so, so, so grateful she is in our family!