The Easter dress was a huge hit at church.

I went a little crazy and bought three swimsuits for Kenz, not intending to keep all, of course. Though my sisters insist little girls need approximately three swimsuits per season, this is the one that came in first place. Kenz was a good sport as I tried, retried, and then re-retried the suits on again.

A runner up in the swimsuit purchase.

Kenz now thinks she knows how to feed herself. The food ends up in a combination of the following: her lap, her hair, the cracks of her thighs, her elbows, her highchair, the floor and other surrounding areas around but not in the target.

The newest Disney princess

Never though I'd say it, but I have a princess for a daughter. Kenz will line up all of the "prinches" to face her, and then smile at them adoringly. As usual, Ariel is her favorite.

What the Disneyland?!?

I think I am in the Twilight Zone. I'm not quite sure what day it is. Last I remember, I left on Friday afternoon with group of high school ASL students to Disneyland. Every road trip has some great stories and this one was no exception. We left on Friday with bus driver Bobby Hitt--an old tyme country singer(check your local casino listings for playing times)--who referred to himself as the 'hitman'. Not exactly the name of a person you want behind the wheel of your transportation. Throughout the trip up, Bobby self-dosed himself some Robitussin for a persistant cough. I think a bus counts as operating heavy machinery (see Robitussin side effect cautions). Bobby is a free soul, which can be mistaken as lazy. He denied us the opportunity to use the commode on the way up...not sure why but probably had something to do with the fact that he is the bus's janitor. Despite Ricky Bobby (our new nickname for the hitman), we made it to Dland safely and proceded for two and a half days on a very faithful 6am-1200am schedule. The kids were great except for a couple trixsy ones, who were, well, trixsy.

The Aladdin show. This was one of our favorite attractions. Rachel and I were confused at the characters in electronic cruisers-like the ones at Walmart-it was a little distracting.


Apparently I am a peasant who is not allowed in the presence of princesses. All I wanted was a couple pictures to show to Kenz with anything Disney princessish. I didn't need to wait an hour with the rest of the four-year-olds and their moms for them to tell me I too can be a princess if I listen to my parents and do my schoolwork. The "gatekeeper" (I got a little annoyed at how in character some of the workers get) absolutely refused to let me take pictures over the Enchanted Forest's hedge, but here is one I snapped as Aurora and Cinderella were leaving for a shift change-only three princesses are out at a time. I think Cinderella thought she was a real princess because she didn't even make eye contact with me, a commoner. I left the Enchanted Forest wanting to have a smackdown with Dland's prettiest.


Rachel and I in line for the new Toy Story ride. Fun, but not worth the wait.

Jedi training. Apparently they only pick little kids for Jedi Training even though I know I was born with the Force. By the end, I had all of the moves down anyways, so I hope they don't miss my skills when the Sith (sp?) attack again.

This pic is for Kenz. She loves "BeeYoons".

The classic Disney pic.

The trip home consisted of Ricky Bobby's songs with the bus travelling at a pace of 25 mph. Something was wrong with the thrust something or other and we had to stop, no go, no stop again, no go again, no stop for maintenance to diagnose and fix the problem. Made for a 10-hour trip home, but a safe return was made.

So now I'm having some sleep deprivation-Disneyland exhaustion backlash and feel as though the Tower of Terror may just have transported me to the Twilight Zone.
Let's hope it's nothing permanent.

And we're back!!!

Kenzie got these much needed sunglasses for Easter. The Easter bunny known as Aunt Sara also found some Disney Princess cookies which added to Kenz's Easter sugar high.

Kenzie is not the easiest to wake in the morning. We especially love her morning-do. It resembles a big ball of fluff in the back and shaggadelic on top and in front. For one who is not skilled in hairstyling, mousse has become my favorite friend. If it ends up like a rat's nest at the end of the day, at least it smells good.


Kenzie is in love with my toothbrush. I wish I could have it back someday.

Memories and garbage

So remember that one time when I used to take pictures and post them on my blog? Well, things have changed due to an overly obedient child. Around December-ish, Boe and I decided to teach Kenzie how to throw her oh-so-stinky diapers in the trash. Well, she happened to master the art and we were pleased with the new trick we taught our pet. A couple of weeks later I was faithfully taking pictures with the camera to be uploaded to our blog when I became distracted by something important on tv (an expensive mistake as you soon will see). I remember hearing a thunk in the kitchen, laughing to Boe that I thought Kenzie had just thrown the camera away, and then, absentmindedly continuing with the tv distraction, assuming if I didn't retrieve it, surely Boe would. Problem is, he claims to have never heard me. You know what they say about assuming? Long story short, the ever faithful trash truck came and carried our digital card of memories away from our lives forever. Now our problem is agreeing on a camera to purchase or if to purchase a camera at all (Kenz will learn her lesson when she is old enough to realize that a portion of her life was not recorded because of her...well I guess that is my fault). Anyways, as I write way too much for school, I am not keen on the idea of spending more time on the computer than is absolutely GPA-necessary, especially if pictures are not available to take up most of the blog space.
In conclusion (again, I write a lot of papers for school and format has become ingrained), sorry to all family and friends who have been disappointed by my lack of posting. I feel an end to the disappearance is near. Keep posted.

We snowmobiled around the cabin area to take some beautiful pictures of the surrounding landscape.

CHRISTMAS EVE AT A FAMILY MEMBER'S HANGAR

Ivory tusks that took six years

apiece to carve. The picture doesn't

do them justice.

Cool cars from Boe's uncle's collection. I practiced a couple of times hopping in "Dukes of Hazard" style until Boe called me a dork.

The "destroying angel" ... if you were there, you'd know why... Playing "House on Fire" which I came in dead last.

A very mini Cooper.

Once again, the "Destroying Angel". Notice the calm Baby Jesus
The setting for our Christmas Eve. Yes, that is a cow rocketing to the moon
.

Thorpe cousins.
Kenzand Aunt Rox in front of

a nativitiy from a cathedral in Germany?

This is an action shot of Kenz throwing

her first present of the season (The doll

is in midair).

First taste of snow...
...and the verdict is ...delicious!

Kenzie's first snowmobile ride. We bundled up Kenz good and went for a ride together.

Here we are on the snowmobile. Kenz was a little scared of the noise at first, but she did like going fast. It was a pretty cold day, so her little cheeks and nose were turning red. She would say ouch and rub her nose. That's when we knew it was time to go in and warm up by the fire.

We got Shauna the biggest, warmest snow suit we could find. She actually did pretty good with the cold weather. Kenzie helped to keep mom warm.

Playing in the snow in front of the cabin. There was about a foot and a half of new snow. She would sink in up to her waist on her own. She liked trying to catch the snowflakes as they were falling.

IDAHO

She kept dragging her left arm out of the sled and would then get angry when the snow wouldn't shake out of her glove.I could never tell if she was slipping or just trying to free herself of my hand.

Family four-wheel ride

TEMPLE LIGHTS

This is one of the few times we let her out of her stroller. The Wise Men in the distance were obviously not as interesting as the rocks under the bushes.

(We are on a decilne in this picture, which is why I look so short)

She finds the oddest positions to sleep in.

Kenz likes to be in the middle of anything I am trying to get done. She will sit and play on the dishwasher lid until the grabbing of sharp knives elicits her removal. More than anything, Kenz likes rocks. We try placing her on grass but she quickly migrates to any available rockpile (which aren't hard to find here). She says "ock" which we believe is rock, but the same exclamation is made for dog, truck, duck, milk, park, and bottle.
Supposed to be helping her Dad put up the Christmas lights, but, again, playing with the rocks.

A top-heavy tree: We had to make some adjustments to our tree decorating this year. The ornaments are exactly out of Kenzie's reach, though she's figured out how to get to them by way of a nearby couch. She knows she isn't supposed to touch the ornaments and always keeps her back to me when she happens to pluck one off.