Mele Kalikimaka

Well I seem to be consistent with updating my blog every 3 months. Once again we have been super busy. Since today is a "Snow Day", we decided to take advantage and stay inside to do nothing! The girls have continued to grow like weeds! They have been alot of fun, TaiLee is getting old enough to actually play with Ataya now and it is so fun to watch them! They absolutely Love each other!
I have been busy starting Club Volleyball again. My girls are so much fun, I couldn't ask to coach a better group of girls!
Andy has been busy with work, (until this past week). He tore his ACL playing Football (flag football that is). Last Friday we drove to Park City where he had reconstructive surgery, so he will be home for a few weeks recovering.
Other than that we have just been enjoying this time of year. We had 2 Thanksgiving Dinner's this year, which is awesome to get a whole day with both sides of the family. I was able to put up all my Christmas stuff a little early this year because of Andy's surgery. Christmas will be so fun this year since Ataya is now old enough to be excited for Santa. I love my little family and am so grateful for all of our family, I honestly don't know what I would do without them!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS to everyone!
Best wishes from the Long Family

Past 3 Months

WOW! It has been for ever since I blogged! August was such a busy busy month! The first 9 days of August we were at our annual Merrell family Reunion! We always have so much fun; although 9 days on the mountain for my two girls (and myself), is a long time! We did slip down the mountain a few times because there is nothing like a shower at your own home! After returning home for 5 days we headed back up the mountain for Andy's Archery hunt! As much as we love camping with Daddy we (fortunetly)had to come home that Tuesday so Ataya could participate in the Drill Team Camp! She had a blast! The Drill Team did a great job, especially the girls that had to babysit the 3year old all week! (Bless them!)
Ataya started preschool! She loves it and I had a hard time! Fortunetly my mom is her teacher. In the beginning I thought this was best for Ataya but in the end its probably better for me. I have peace of mind knowing my mom is there! I can't imagine Kindergarten!
Ataya also had to get her tonsils out! I hated it so bad! Ataya hates anything that has to do with Doctors or Hospitals so it was kinda tramatizing...(for me too!)
Other than that we have just had a GREAT Summer! I love spending time with my family! Volleyball has started and going full force! So wish us luck! Hopefully I can find time to blog again before three months pass!

Family Pictures

On July 7th, my brother Paul, decided to leave us for a few months to study in Germany. He has already been gone a few weeks and we miss him dearly. After him being home all summer my girls became really attached and have really missed him. Naturally my mom really wanted some family pictures before he left so I thought I would post a few of them!

July 4th 2009

I absolutely love July 4! We had such a fun weekend! Andy finally gave in and played doubles with me in an outdoor tournament on Friday! It was his first time and we took 3rd. I loved playing with my husband, we had so much fun! We drove home that night so that we could be home for the Fourth! Saturday morning we went to the parade and the girls loved it. After their much needed nap we Barbecued at our house with my family. It was a unanimous decision that Andy made the BEST steaks we had ever had! They were Awesome!! Later that evening we went to my uncle Wade's for (of course) another Barbecue! I love going over there because we get to see lots of family that we don't see often! Then we ended the evening at Ashley Elementary (where we always meet up with the Olsen's) for the Fireworks! After the fight with traffic our girls were so pooped they didn't even wake going from the car to the house, and they still slept in til nine!
I had such a fun weekend so thanks to my Hubby for being such a good sport!

TaiLee's First Birthday

I am a total slacker when it comes to blogging, but I can't forget to post some pictures of my babie's first Birthday! I cannot believe how fast this past year has gone by! We had one big party weekend on Father's Day weekend, (that's how big of a slacker I am), we had a party at the Rec Center so that the little kids could go swimming. It was a blast, easy entertainment and easy clean up for me!! On Sunday we had another Birthday Party/Father's Day Party! Of course after spending all day decorating for a Luau outside the terrible rain/wind storm came through with feiry at exactly party time so we had to party in the garage with no decorations! Oh well, it was Fun!! All in all it was a great weekend celebrating my babies milestones and honoring my awesome Dad and the best husband in the world!! They are both the Best Father's, I couldn't ask for more. I am glad we have a day just for them! Thanks for sharing it with TaiLee! I love you both so much!!

So everyday I think to myself that I need to blog but I can't seem to find the time. Today I am leaving my house a disaster so I can blog! (sorry hubby) Here are a few pictures that sum up the past few months!

Tay had her yearly checkup at the cardiogist. She is very nervous about going to doctors, (for good reason) but she was so good! We were very proud of her!



So after we left the hospital we headed home and Andy and I were talking about how proud of Ataya we were so we made a last second exit off the freeway and decided to take the girls to the Zoo!


My baby starting to walk on Mother's Day Weekend


Tay starting Itty Bitty ball! She loved it!

Happy Easter

We had a great Easter! We went camping at Red Fleet which has kind of turned into our Long Family tradition. Since Easter falls right during the crunch time of tax season, Red Fleet is about as far as we go(thanks to the CPA's in the family)! It's great though, full water and electric hookups is my idea of camping.........not really........but kinda!!
Anyways, We had lots of fun and once again, the girls got way to much from the Easter bunny!! My family was in Missouri watching my oldest brother play volleyball, we sure missed them but they had a great time too! Here are just a few pictures from the weekend!

Vacation....kinda

So last week Andy ended up having to go to Richfield for work for the week. He doesn't go out of town very often but we hate it when he does. He left on a Tuesday morning and by Wednesday the girls and I decided we had nothing better to do, so we packed our bags and left that afternoon. Ataya had so much fun, by the time we got there Andy was off work so we went swimming, that started our routine for the trip because we ended up swimming for four straight nights! On Friday, Andy had a long day of work so I loaded up the girls and we drove another 2 hours to St. George to watch Uintah kick some butt at the softball tournament! Although I was nervous about taking this journey by myself with two girls, we had alot of fun! I will take any excuse to go to St.George. Although Richfield is not my typical vacation hot spot, it was alot of fun, plus Andy is terrible when he has to be away from his girls, after about a day he goes nuts!

Mini Vacation

Super Party!!

Happy Green Day, but more importantly Happy 3rd Birthday to my baby! I can't believe Ataya is 3! We had such a busy day! It is so fun having a birthday on St. Patricks Day! (It's the only Birthday party where everyone comes color coordinated!)

Party #1

We decided to have two parties (I don't know what I was thinking.) At 3:00 we started Ataya's first party. Ataya invited a few friends over to decorate cupcakes and play a few games. It was alot of fun! I am glad we decided to do a party for the kids because Ataya really enjoyed it!! We have such amazing family and friends that made it such a fun little party, it was well worth it!!

Party #2

At 6:30 we had our second party, this one was little more stressful. I decided to do dinner for all of our family (about 20 people). I wanted to have Cafe Rio, but when my mom got to my house around 4:00 the "Pork Barbacoa" wasn't even close to being done. We turned it on high and I had frosting about everywhere you can imagine that needed cleaned up! I have a new love for Vinyl table clothes, they are well worth the dollar! We through everything on the table, folded the table cloth up and took it out to the trash. I was so smart I had even put two on the table before hand so after throwing on a few plates we almost had the next party ready to go! To sum it up the food was great!!!! I am not sure about everyone else but I loved it! (I would like to take the credit but my mom helped, or maybe she pretty much cooked everything but I hate to get into details.) I love having people over, it is worth the stress! We have the best family! Ataya got totally Spoiled, it truly looked like Christmas! It was such a fun day, I am sad it is over! I think Ataya would have slept until noon the next day if I wouldn't have woke her up! She was wiped out, she even lost her voice (she said it was from singing "Happy Birthday to TAYA!" I love March 17th, Thanks to everyone for coming!!

Bittersweet!

Since it has been awhile since I have posted anything I thought I would add a few pictures of the girls lately. If it wasn't for Ataya I probably wouldn't even have these. Our lives seem so busy and before I know it another week or month has gone by. Every other day Ataya will say "mom take a picture of me". (She always thinks she is doing something cute and I need to get a picture of her.) Anyways, that is why most my pictures are of her!
A few weeks ago TaiLee started crawling all over the place, this week she could care less about crawling, she just wants to get some where to pull herself up and then has the guts to just let go. She really wants to walk and I know she will be doing it in no time. I don't know why such accomplishments can be so sad too. I cannot believe that my baby is growing up so fast!

PRETTY!

So Andy had the girls one Thursday evening while I went to play volleyball, you can see who was in charge. This was such a classic moment for a dad with two girls. I couldn't stop laughing when I walked in. I think Andy has finally accepted that this could be what he is in for in the next 16 years.
Andy is such a good dad!! He loves his time with his girls, even if he has to put on makeup with them!!

VOLLEYBALL

I had to post this picture because it pretty much sums up our life lately. My sweet girls are troopers when it comes to volleyball everyday! They truck along with me to coach 3 days a week, watch mommy and daddy play on Mondays, and watch tournaments every other weekends. (That's alot of volleyball!) We have turned the volleyball cart into a portable play pin. It is so cute, the girls play together and I just roll them around the gym with me! What a life huh! They seem to have lots of fun though!

On New Year's Day we finally made our long awaited journey to DISNEYLAND!! We had so much fun!! Ataya is still sad every morning that she wakes up because we are not heading to Disneyland! She had so much fun! Her and Tai have been sleeping 12 hour nights trying to recuperate!! Thanks to the whole Long family for making the trip so fun! We can't wait to go back!