A trip to Utah and Idaho

Over the 24th of July we went to Jake's Grandparents house in St. Anthony, Idaho. Here's Jake and Kaylee on the private lake by the house. Josh holding his favorite girls. I made all of the i heart ny shirts for the cousins. It was fun to see them wear them at the parade. Jake went to this same parade as a boy. They throw out tons of candy, so of course that made Kaylee happy.

Jake and Kaylee at the St. Anthony rodeo.

Grandma and Riley at the rodeo.

Another one of us at the rodeo. We had a lot of fun.
After a few days in Idaho we spent some time at our house in Utah. Kaylee's favorite thing to do was water the plants.

Riley, Kami and Grandpa Grandpa at my parents house in Provo, Ut.

Besides trying to motivate myself to knock the next door in Rhode Island. I dream of my winter when I can go snowmobiling three to four times a week. This was took last year on one of our snowmobile trips.

Hill Cumorah Pageant

Last Thursday Jake took work off a little early so we could go to the dress rehersal of the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Uncle Kevin and his family are in it this year and suggested the dress rehersal to get better seats. The place accomodates 9000 viewers- we were in the front row! We got there early enough to visit with Kevin and Michelle and a few of their kids. Their costumes were stunning and you could tell they were ready to show off their hard week of practice. Each family member had a fun role for th show. Kevin was one of th preists of Noah. Michelle told us that during practice he was asked to tone it down! The boys were soldiers and did some pretty fancy moves with their swords. Hailey literally fell off the side of the set during the destruction scene and got soaked in the water. Don't worry, she was on a rope and knew what she was doing. My hat goes off to Michelle, the harvest worker. She told us she would be doing some dancing, but she didn't tell us how much! And since we were in the front row we saw all her expressions as she laughed at Nephi on the boat. I was quite impressed with her talent! Like an idiot I left my camera. I found these pictures on someone elses website- but they look JUST LIKE the ones I would have taken!

It might be hard to see, but the guy in the hat is one of the preists of Noah, maybe Kevin... maybe some other dude with the same costume.

Jesus descended from above on a rope. It lloked really sweet as he came down the stage glowing.
Michelle told us there were over 700 members of the cast. What a fun thing to be a part of.
We feel really lucky to be close enough to go to the pageant. It was a fun thing to experience.

For more pictures and info about the pageant go to http://www.hillcumorah.org/

4th of July and Lake Ontario BBQ

Since Jake was working in Syracuse on the 4th, me and one of the other wives, Marie, rented a car and drove up to spend the night and enjoy the holiday with our husbands. The fireworks went off at the New York State Fairgrounds. We found ourselves a little patch of grass, layed out the blankets and the treats and waited for the display. The girls loved it! Riley didn't make a peep, she just watched in awe. Kaylee got excited and named some of the colors as they burst. The were exhausted when we got back to the hotel, Good thing, cause we had a makeshift bed for Riley on the floor and somehow fit Kaylee's pack n play in the tub in the bathroom. I'm so glad we came up though. What is the 4th without your family! On Sunday the whole office got together for a sweet BBQ at the beach. The weather was perfect, the food was great, and the girls couldn't get enough of the water.

Way to go Jake!

Jake will probably kill me for posting this, but I'm so proud of him that I had to share this article with he world. On the APX website they highlight top performers throughout the company and below is what they had to say about Jake! The past two weeks they have been driving 1.5 hours one way each day to Syracuse. Needless to say I miss my husband! He has been working so hard this summer. Keep it up babe!!!



Jacob Dahl and the Rochester Office Reach New Heights
by Matt Pitts
June 25, 2008
Provo, UT - Last week was a huge one for the Rochester office. Not only did they break all previous records but they improved from their previous week by over 30 installs. 5 reps had their best week, and 5 reps had 10+ installs, but the true man behind the curtain has to be Jacob Dahl.Dahl has been consistent week after week, including two weeks of 18, and one of 19. Few reps can say they’ve installed 19 in a week, which represents just over 3 a day. After last week, however, 19 is old news – the old bar. In a huge feat of Apx greatness, Dahl put in 27 installs during week 8.Last week brings him to 141 on the summer, a stellar total even if he were to bagel every day the rest of the summer. Bagels don’t seem to be in the cards for Dahl, however, who the stats seem to project as one of those rare 300+ reps.

Lake Ontario

We brought the girls to Lake Ontario State Park and can't wait to go back! It was a such a beautiful day. Kaylee loved playing in the sand and getting her shorts wet in the water. We were shocked thhat she actually enjoyed sitting in it and touching it and getting in on her hands. Usually she likes the idea of it but gets nervous by the water or the messy sand. Riley liked it too. She wanted to put it in her mouth, but there were tons of tiny little shells and lake debris so it wasn't such a good idea. She put her feet in the water too and seemed to like it. Next time we'll put them in swimsuits and let them go to town.

We were pleasantly surprised to find a town fair going on right off the beach. There was music in the park, lots of food like you'd expect- funnel cakes, popcorn, polish sausage... all sorts of fancy fair food. We did not partake. Once we got closer to the fair we were remided of how disgusting those places could be. We held the girls tight looking for rides Kaylee was big enough to go on. Her favorite was the carousel. And our lucky day, there was an elk for her to ride! I will post soon about the obession in our home over yelk, binni and pincess deah's. Needlees to say, Kaylee love the carousel and would have rode it a hundred times. We ended the day with a few minutes at the park with slide and swings. The girls fell asleep as soon as we got home. Who knows how much they will remember, but me and Jake had a lot of fun being with them.

Rockin' Rochester

A few weeks ago we moved to Rochester, NY. It's about 5 hours north of Yonkers. It has been such a good move. It's better up here for Jake and it's definatley better up here for me and the girls. We live in a complex with parks and grassy fields and usually nice weather. Another bonus- we live about 30 minutes away from Hill Cumorah.

Me and Kaylee are standing at the backdoor of Joseph Smith's house. The door was locked cause we got there early, but we peeked in the windows. It made me so grateful for the apartment we lieved in, even though we were without furniture for 2 weeks : )

Me and Riley are on a bridge over the river that Hyrum Smith was baptised in. We are walking toward the sacred grove.

Me and Riley in the sacred grove. It was such a perfect day. The grove is so peaceful and beautiful. We liked it so much we came back the next week.
Kaylee was feeling the spirit. She wanted to get on her knees : ) Not really, she just was squatting to copy me while I took the picture. Because of our sudden move we had to wait on getting our furniture. We got pretty creative making forts out of moving boxes and watching movies on the floor.

For Kaylee's birthday (she turned two on May 9th) we took her to a nearby mall that had a huge indoor carousel. She loved it. I think we rode it 5 times, a different horse each time. Are you loving my roots in this picture? I just dyed my hair back to brown, but you'll have to wait for pics of that.
This is the little meadow across the street from our apartment. We walk through it to go to the park where the swings are. But I think she has more fun in the grass. She was in love with the dandelions. In this meadow we've seen a bunny, lots of groundhogs, birds and the ultimate... Binny!!! Bambi is Kaylee's most favorite movie, so she about dies when we saw a deer about 25 feet away.

Just to compare- this is the park that we used to go to in Yonkers.

Did I mention we live right by the Erie Canal. How coolis that! Last Sunday we took the girls to the boardwalk to feed the ducks.

Our little girls are becoming best friends. There is nothing better than hearing them make each other laugh.

Riley 's teeth are coming in!!! This is a frequent expression for Riley cause she is always snorting and always drooling.
We are really enjoying our summer here. We have one month down and Jake is doing better than ever. He has installed 77 accounts and can't wait to bust it out next month. He is motivated and on track to hit his goals. We are so proud of him and always look forward to the time we get to see him.

I'm going Bonkers in Yonkers

Last week we packed our girls and our stuff in our Honda and drove 3 days to Yonkers, New York- just a half hour north of Manhattan. The drive was intense. Kaylee and Riley sat right next to each other in their careseats with the third space was occupied with stuff up to the ceiling. Jake drove the whole time, but I don't feel that bad cause I spent the majority of the time turned around in my seat (real safe, i know) feeding Riley and trying to entertain Kaylee. She watched the Backyardigans movie Super Secret Super Spy probably fifteen times. We were pulled over twice for not having license plates (new car) but both times the officers saw the girls squished in the back and let us be on our way. We stayed one night in a city in Iowa wher we go a little room the girls could run aroung in and we could watch American Idol. We all needed a serious break from the car.
So we are here now and let me tell you this place is nuts! We live right on the Hudson River in a sweet apartment- see www.hudsonpark.net. There are so many great things close by- there is a main railroad station with trains that take you to Grand Central Station in 25 minutes. There are tons of restaurants, a library, a boardwalk by the water. It's kind of a wierd place though. If you walk about 3-4 blocks away from our building, it's like you are in a different state. There are very few white people. It's mostly black and hispanic. There are tons of vacant buildings, like 4 Dollar stores in a two block radius, little corner grocery stores that sell produce and a variety of other shops and such. All of the stores though are so crammed. It's hard to get my double stroller through the aisles. I definately feel safe here, just a little out of place.
Since we didn't bring out a lot of stuff, my days are long trying to keep these kids entertained. It doesn't help that Kaylee has been waking up before 7am every morning. Thank goodness we brought the princess tent. It has been the best toy ever (thanks Brian and Heather). We've also been watching a whole lot oh Beesh (Finding Nemo) and Peetah (Peter Pan). She asks for them every morning with out fail.
It's really late and I haven't really gotten into why I'm going bonkers in Yonkers. Basically these two little girls are rocking my world. I think I'd be going bonkers even if I was in Utah : )