My ballerinas...

I may be biased (just a little) but I do believe I have the most beautiful ballerinas. Here are Liv and Sophie at their Christmas recital.

Last year when Sophie made it to the big stage she cried through the entire performance. Not tonight. She performed like the "ham" we know she is. Liv also did a wonderful job. This was her first dance recital. It's been so much fun watching her grow into a dancer.

Here are the girls with the family. We are so fortunate to have them so close. We appreciate all their love and support.

Christmas Newsletter

My Christmas cards are sealed and delivered but I neglected to include a newsletter. So here it is...

This year has been a roller coaster ride with lots of ups and downs. Through it all our little family has grown closer in faith and love. Lets start with the big events...
We decided this summer to rent out our house that we have loved and lived in for five years. It was a hard decision but the 45 minute commute to and from work everyday became to much with our two little girls. We felt like we were spending more time in our car and less time as a family. It was the first house Ray and I bought together. It is where our baby girls took their first steps and spoke their first words. It is where we celebrated countless holidays and birthdays. The girls still miss their house and friends but we have adjusted to life with Ray's parents. We are currently staying with them until we can find a new home that both Ray and I can agree on. If you the know the two of us that might take a little time. Until then Olivia and Sophie love having their Mama and Yea Yea so close.

Our first home...



Olivia started Pre-K this Fall and she has loved every minute of it. She is very bright and a wonderful helper. She has really taken an intrest in learning how to read. I love listening to her try and sound out words. It's quite funny. She is counting down the days until she can go to the big school where Mommy teaches. I can't believe she is going to be five this May. I feel like it was just yesterday that I held her in my arms after 39 long weeks of pregnancy. She truly amazes me each day and she has been such a blessing in our lives.

First Day of School...

This Fall Sophie started taking dance lessons. She is such a tiny ballerina. This week she had her first dance recital. She danced to the song Jingle Bells. It was wonderful and she was perfect. Sophie will be 3 this February. She is also a bright girl and very talkative. I took her to get her haircut last week and she chatted with the hair stylist. She told her how she wanted to get her cut, what she wanted for Christmas, about her upcoming dance recital, and everything in between. She is our sweet girl and we love her more each day.

First dance recital...


Ray continues to work for Harmons, a local grocery chain here in Utah. He is such a wonderful man. He works 60 hour weeks but he always finds time for his girls, all three of us. I have truly been blessed to find such a wonderful man to share eternity with. This year we celebrated our 6th anniversary.

6 years with my best friend...


I have also been busy with teaching. I teach the afternoon session of kindergarten. I am in my fifth year of teaching and I still love it. This year I have started working on a math endorsement. The credits I receive from this program will go towards a masters degree in education.

We send our love and holiday wishes to all our family and friends.

Happy Holidays.
Love,
The Lo's

Labor Day Luau

Spending Labor Day with our good friends the Abundos







These girls are the best of friends. They can spend hours playing and being creative together. Olivia started pre K preschool this year. It was very hard for Sophie. For the last 2 1/2 years Sophie has had her big sister and now she has to be away from her. It's only for 2 1/2 hours 3 days a week but it's hard. I'm so grateful they have one another.

Today

Today started at 7 am. Livie woke up then woke up her very sleep sister. The girls wanted cereal for breakfast but Livie didn't want her usual honey nut Cheerios. Instead she wanted my Kashi Go Lean but there was only enough left for one bowl. Now I'm not a selfish person but no way was I going to give her my last bowl of cereal. So of course she cried and screamed that she wanted my cereal. I didn't give in and eventually she stopped and ate her Cheerios. After breakfast I took Olivia to Great Clips (scary word for me). I usually get her hair cut at Cookie Cutters or by a friend but Ray has recently berated me for her hair cut costing more than his. So we went and put on a brave face and it actually turned out very cute. Livie has become quite opinionated and new exactly how she wanted her cut. A sassy A-line to match her sassy attitude. After hair cuts we met Daddy at home and packed a picnic lunch. We took our lunch to the local water park and spent 3 hours splashing around. My girls are brave and begged us to take them on the very tall water slide. After the water park the girls came home and crashed for two hours. Daddy and I crashed on the couch wrapped in each others arms (I know cheesy). Yea Yea (grandpa in Chinese) made us steak for dinner and now we are watching Karate Kid 2. Probably not a wise choice since Olivia has been trying out her karate moves on Sophie after seeing the first Karate Kid. Bed time soon...yeah for a sleeping house.

Family Pictures

Our family pictures were taken by the very talented and wonderful Amy Mutchler. I am in love with them and with my cute little family.

Catching Up with the Lo's

Here's an update...pictures to follow soon.

The girls had their first party on Valentine's day. They invited lots of neighborhood girls over. We heart attacked our house (bring back any memories from high school), made valentines, and frosted sugar cookies.
Our family celebrated Chinese New Year with lots of good food and family.
Sophie turned 2 on February 20th...She walked around for a week telling anyone who would listen, "My birthday".
On February 27th we had a big party for Sophie's birthday. We crammed 30 people into our house and Ray made delicious barbecue pork. Grammy had a beautiful cake made and decorated it with all of Sophie's favorite cartoon characters.
Nana and Papa from California came to visit for a week.
Ray took a week vacation (I know shocking) to spend time with our visiting family.
I made it through the month of February and Parent Teacher Conferences.

Now it's time to conquer the month of March!

A New Year

A new year brings new adventures and new challenges, one of which is watching our baby girls grow up. Olivia has reached the age of a sunbeam and is now attending primary. She loves being a big girl. All week she talks about how she gets to go to class with the big kids now. Sophie is also growing fast. She will be two this February and I can't believe how brilliant she is. Her Chinese name is Wing Chang which translates into forever brilliant. Of course I am her mother so I can be a bit biased. But when you have a kid who isn't two and is talking in complete sentences, starting potty training, and sleeping all by herself in a big girl bed what else is there to do but be a proud and bragging mom. I'm so excited about this year. I'm excited to watch my girls grow and learn and become more rebellious than they already are. They love to test my patience and I lose all authority as a parent when I can't keep myself from laughing when disciplining them. We didn't really make New Year's Resolutions this year partly because I can't keep them and because if I did my list would be to long. So instead we made one goal: to cherish the time we spend together as a family. I think that's something we can actually do.

Ho Ho Ho...

This has been a busy season for our family. We have been all over the place celebrating with friends and family, faculty parties, ward Christmas party and it's still not over. I love this time of year but it does come with lots of stress and over eating. I've lost all self control and I am eating every sweet treat I come in contact with. Only 5 more days and then I can start weening myself off the sweet stuff. This weekend we partied with some family friends. It was a good ole fashion celebration complete with prime rib and pictionary. The next day we took the kids to the zoo to have Breakfast with Santa. Olivia has really warmed up to Santa this year and is not shy in his presence any longer. She jumped right onto his lap and listed the many things she wants for Christmas. On her list is a barbie house. I'm not sure where she got this idea because she only owns one barbie and she doesn't even play with it. When Sophie's turn came she just sat on Santas lap and nodded every time he asked her a question. At least she didn't cry. After a delicious breakfast buffet we bundled up and ventured outside to visit the penguins. We spent most of our time in the indoor exhibits since it was only about 20 degrees outside. Christmas day is fast approaching and I can't wait for it to be here. I'm like a child myself...the anticipation is killing me.

Giving Thanks

I am THANKFUL...for such a wonderful and beautiful family, a husband who works hard to support our family, two healthy and spirited daughters, for my parents and Ray's parents, a career I love, teaching young children, the gospel, temples, my church calling as a primary teacher, a home to live in, a car to drive, my health, good friends, and most of all food. I put off going to the orthodonist this week (he wanted to put on my bottom braces) so that I could enjoy a Thanksgiving feast. I love food. I think it's wonderful and delicious and I can't get enough of it. I started this Thanksgiving off with a boot camp workout at the gym and then a 5K with some friends so that I wouldn't feel guilty about the all the wonderful food I ate. And boy did I eat...two plates filled with turkey, stuffing and potatoes, two helpings of ham, lots of veggies and dip, and three different kinds of pie with ice cream...boo yah!

Fall Festivities

I love fall. I love the colors. I love leaves crunching beneath my feet. I love love pumpkins and all the yummy treats you can make. I think it's the most beautiful time of year and so far our family has enjoyed this season. We kicked off our fall festivities with our annual trip to the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving point. The girls love all the bounce houses and I even dragged them through the spooking junior haunted house. The girls enjoyed face paintings, sweet kettle corn, and spending time with friends.



By the end of the day poor Sophie was ready for a nap.



Does anyone else feel like they have been celebrating Halloween all month? After 1 Halloween Birthday party, 1 neighborhood party, trunk or treat, and 2 class parties I'm debating if we're going to go trick or treating at all. We've definitely had our feel of candy and dressing up. I got my use out of the girls 12.00 Target costumes. This lovely witch who holds a neighborhood Halloween party awarded Olivia 2nd place for her Bumblebee costume. I thought she was pretty cute too.

Warning

Warning...The MT. Timponogas Caves do not allow strollers on the trail. We found this little piece of information out as we were all loaded in the stroller and ready to buy tickets. Needless to say we ditched the stroller and without backpacks or carriers carried Olivia and Sophie up the steep 1.5 mile hike to the caves. About half way up Sophie fell asleep in my arms. I was being cheered on by others as we passed them. Now I'm pretty strong and in roughly good shape but it was very TIRING to carry my 20 something pound baby up that mountain. I was the lucky one, Ray got stuck holding Olivia most of the way. At one point they were ahead of us and you could hear Olivia crying because her daddy was basically dragging her up the mountain forcing her to walk. We were successful and made it to the top of the mountain and were able to explore the caves. Olivia and Sophie made it about half way through the tour before we were holding them again. And of course on the way down Olivia fell asleep this time. Here are some pictures of our triumphant climb....


And here's a picture of a chipmunk. I asked Ray why are you taking useless pictures of a chipmunk. It's not like were going to frame them and display them in our home.