School Starts and Big News For Our Family

Adriana started her second year of preschool and loves it. Abigail & Elena miss her, and can't wait until they get to go to school too.

First day pictures.

In front of the school.

The other exciting news is that we are expecting a baby! The girls can't wait and are so excited. We just found out that it is another girl! Adriana had her heart set on a boy, but I think she will love this little sister like she does the twins. I am due on January 21.

20 week bump. 

The rest of the Summer: Olympics, swimming, potty training, and the Zoo

On July 6 we officially got to Atlanta. We were a tired bunch after the traveling and found ourselves in a new location and home. The girls have transitioned very well. When we got here we stayed in an apartment for 6 weeks until we found a house to rent. We had lots of fun and did lots of activities.

We had to get them all souvenirs when we visited BYU. Of course they wanted to all be in the same shirt instead of choosing from the wider selection available. 

We didn't have much of our stuff and decided it was the perfect time to potty train. (If there is such a thing as 'a perfect time'). We had 2 pottys in storage, but decided to break down and get a couple more. I thought for a few days that we'd be okay with just one, but that didn't go so well. They have done a great job and we are almost there.

These next 4 pictures are all of Elena and all happened in the same day. Needless to say, we had a very busy day!

Got into my makeup and tried to use my mascara as lip gloss.

Then she found it again (obviously not put away properly) and tried it on  her eyes.

Then, a few hours later, I was in the bathroom when Abigail and Elena walk in like this. I had no idea what it was and if I should be worried about burns or some other hazardous material. Adriana came running in and said that she found the syrup. Hah, even though I couldn't prove anything it was quite suspicious that she had a big helper who pushed the high chair up to the counter, got in it and unscrewed the lid. This is about 3/4 of a bottle all over her. It was too funny.

Our optimistic Elena. Syrup head to toe, including her backpack.

A good headshot

The only solution, and her sisters didn't want to miss out.

Having fun playing house.

Crazy hair after her nap.

Marietta has a famous KFC with a big chicken outside. They converted the high chairs into a train. Adriana is one of the most creative people I know and has some great pretend games.

The pool is the other place we loved to go. I was nervous to take all 3 girls, but since A&E stayed on the stairs and Adriana became pretty independent it worked out well.

Elena

Abigail

We loved watching the Olympics! After the opening ceremonies Adriana always wanted to see the monsters again, but after seeing a few sports she got caught up in deciding what sport she wanted to do.

We are #1!

 Moving into our new house! We are so excited to have a house with a yard and room to play!

The girls were helping me put the DVDs away.

Outside our house.

After going on a date we found Elena in bed with Adriana. Not quite sure how this worked out.

The week before school started for Adriana we decided to go to the Zoo! It was a great day and the girls can't wait to go back.

Abigail & Elena in new dresses from grandma. They arrived in perfect time.

Adriana also wearing her new outfit from grandma.

Sleepy Panda Bears

We stopped at the petting zoo on the way out and the girls loved brushing and petting the goats.

We don't have many pictures of the unpacking, but the girls have had a blast playing in the boxes as they are emptied. Two wardrobe boxes have been fun houses. They enjoyed a special breakfast inside one morning.

Family, family, family... then our move to Atlanta

We had a great trip to UT this summer to visit a lot of family. We saw most of Mark's siblings as well as his parents and some extended family. We were able to take some of them up to the Unitas to visit a cabin that my mom's family built. We also had a family reunion on my side that took place in Northern Utah at the homestead where my dad's dad grew up. Several of my siblings were there, my parents and my dad's sister and all of her family. It was great for us to all get reacquainted and for the cousins to all play together. We had a great time with everyone and wished we lived closer. The girls had tons of fun with all the cousins to play with.

Then we headed to Atlanta where we just moved. Mark got a job here with some international opportunities. We miss everyone in CT, but everyone has been so kind here and the transition has gone fairly smooth. Now for all the pictures. WARNING: There are a lot!


These first few are from our last few days in Connecticut. We spent Father's day with the Capsons, the family we lived with for a few months before we found a place. They have become our CT family.

Abigail sporting some of Darlene's old glasses.

All the kids playing on the trampoline.

Saying good-bye to our twin friends Heather and Lilly

Best buddies! These girls have first hand experience of being not only big sisters, but big sisters to TWINS!

Our last day with Kayla, Kyle & Ryan

We left the next morning and it was so hard to leave knowing how far Atlanta is from Hartford. Although we were only there 2 years, we feel like we've made some lifetime friends. It's interesting because the northeast people are known for being a little more closed than other parts of the US. It may take a little longer to get to know people, but we found that once we made friends, they were real friends and will not be forgotten.

Our flight became quite an interesting story. We had a flight to UT out of NYC so we drove down the day before to see a few sites one more time. We took the girls to the Central Park Zoo and although they loved it, we found that the resemblance between it and Madagascar were hard to see.

We had a flight the next morning at 6AM and even arriving in plenty of time at the airport, still missed our flight. (It left the gate 15 min. early). So then we had the fun task of finding 5 seats on another flight, with all 3 girls crying because of the lack of sleep. We secured a flight out at 5:30 PM at the Newark airport just across the river. So we went back to the hotel for some more sleep, luckily. We got lunch and called for a taxi. We wanted to make sure we had enough time so we wouldn't have to repeat this. Granted this was Saturday so one would assume that the traffic would be lighter. Well it took us 2 hours to get from Queens to Newark! We were glad the taxi van had Diego playing. All went well and we made it to SLC safely.

Adriana, Samuel and Christian

All the girls shoved dolls up their shirts so they could be like mommies.

Rivers, Abigail & Elena enjoying lollipops!

Our future musians.

Caslea and Adriana having a fun lunch

We got to celebrate Mark's grandma's birthday with his family.

Lots of fun up in the mountains at the cabin!!

There is a closet of old dress-up clothes that we always loved to do skits in. The kids continued the tradition.

Elena's red cheeks are from some mysterious reaction to Doritos. :)

On a hike with the big kids.

Back in the valley at a fun park.

Mark and his brothers went to a soccer game together. Womens USA vs. Canada. A great pick considering the Olympics a few weeks later.

Climbing the H Rock (with a new paint job)

Abigail & Dan

Sanni, Sarah, Sherene

We wanted to take a picture of all the cousins together, but I had to include a little of the process...

Then we headed up to northern Utah to Sleepy Hollow where my grandpa grew up. It is now converted into a girls camp with a large lodge where the homestead was. It is a beautiful spot with a little stream. We all loved it!

Abigail & Elena with grandpa Hansen

A fun duo, this could be good in a few years.

We went to a park that is made all out of farm equipment. It was amazing!

We celebrated the 4th of July at the Logan Stadium of Fire. Kansas performed too so that was fun.

A picture of everyone.

We made a stop in Clarkston, where my grandparents lived.

Back up at the cabin for more fun!

Another fun tradition. Probably a first with twins.

Abigail got a new outfit from grandma and was so excited to wear it, she put it on over her PJs.

The girls loved playing with Maizy.

We had a great time and enjoyed all the fun with family. Now that the girls are a little older they were able to do more and hopefully remember more of what we did. We flew right to Atlanta and will tell more about that later.