This past weekend Ammon and I had the privillege of flying to Salt Lake City to attend Mom’s wedding. We had a great time and really enjoyed attending the ceremony. There are more pictures to come, but here is a little teaser…
Mom and her new husband Wayne…awesome guy!
My Dad came and stayed with us for a few days in November and we had a fabulous visit. Nothing planned, no big outings, just lots of good food, silliness and being together.
The kids loved having Arizona Papa here. The highlight they listed when asked were the pillow fights, but I’m sure the tickle wars, 10 books that he read to them and the hide n seek in the dark were also right up there.
Chillin with Papa
I told him to smile bigger!
Silly faces
Kevin doesn’t understand stop being silly…
Making Papa some yummy food
A tickle-pillow fight deluxe
Kevin being sweet
Daddy and Daughter
What we look like most of the time! 😉
Papa and the brats
See what I mean?
A rare shot with Ammon in it…doesn’t happen all that often.
Here are some pics from a somewhat recent little photoshoot of Annika. She loves to see the pictures of herself on the camera’s display after we’re finished. She gets a great big smile when she sees herself!
She literally went and sat down so I could take pictures
Trying to look casual
Showing her personality, or showing off…I’m not sure which!
Change of locations..too bad the sun is in the way.
Not sure what this pose is all about. Maybe it’s her karate pose..
November has flown by faster than just about any other month this year so far. I apologize for my lack of posts this month. So here’s what we’ve been up to this month:
Hanging out together when we’ve found a moment
Eating cookies
Playing together
Just generally being cute
Making the yummiest 100% whole wheat bread ever. Perfect for sandwiches. (thanks to thenewhomemaker.com)
Making 12 quarts of homemade yogurt…free of all the junk the stores put in them. Thank you Ammon!
Celebrating Ammon’s 31st birthday with chicken enchiladas, pico de gallo, homemade re-fried beans and turtle cheesecake! YUM! Happy Birthday to the best husband and father EVER!!!!!!!
Blowing out the candles…yes there’s a piece missing…Ammon’s piece. We forgot to sing the first time around….we just wanted to eat it!
Enjoying a birthday the only way we know how-with lots of silliness!
Playing in the crunchy leaves at Grandma and Papa’s house
More of that being cute stuff!
Patting bunnies
Taking family pictures on a snowy Sunday when church is cancelled
Having snuggles
Having a blast with Grandparents
Taking more pictures and smiling really good for a gummy worm
Laughing together (and at each other!)
Being coerced into another picture
Did I mention the being cute part?
Listening to stories
Oh, and more family pictures. This is one that we didn’t choose as our family Christmas photo..I was laughing so hard I couldn’t make an ugly face!
There you have it!
She has amazed me with how quickly she’s picking up new words. I don’t know if the other two kids were the same and I just don’t remember, but it seems to me that she’s learning faster. Could be in part due to having two older siblings who talk non-stop!
Today she said “apple” for the first time…
Her list includes:
Baby
Yuck & Yucky
Puppy
Ta-ta (Tasha)
Da-da
Mama
woof
bottle
uh-oh
oops
hi
bye-bye
look
what’s that
all done
I’m sure there’s more, but I’m drawing a blank.
So, the real halloween was upon us and we were a-flurry getting ready. The grown-ups costumes took way longer than the kids did. We spent a few hours getting ready and then headed out to our church Halloween party/chili cook-off.
Tasha trying on my wig. That’s a lot of hair for a little girl!
The whole family
Close-up of Ken and Barbie…you’re looking at the winners of the prettiest costume prize for the adult category….isn’t he pretty?!
Walking in the parade for the 0-6 year-olds
My little bumblebee
Trunk of Treating…yes, you read it right…The congregation members decorated their trunks and hand out candy that way so that the kids don’t get too cold and they know who they’re getting candy from. We still went to a few houses in the neighborhood across the street after the party though.
Bumblebee baby chillin and trying to eat some gobstoppers…no the package is not open..
The costume was a little too small, which we would have known if we’d tried it on prior to Halloween, but she was still adorable.
Tasha was oh so very excited for her first school halloween party on Friday. She got to stay at school for the WHOLE day (instead of half day) and even got to eat in the cafeteria…grilled cheese, her favorite! The rest of the family showed up just before parade time and helped her get ready.
Whoops! Mommy forgot to bring the pink butterfly clothes..oh well…
Mr. Suiter, Tasha’s teacher, dressed as Winnie the Pooh
Annika entertaining us while we waited for the parade to be over (it was long!)
Just being her cute self
Tasha’s whole class all dressed up…Tanner is the boy with the bowl cut in the black and white costume over on the left. We weren’t all that impressed with his haircut. We expected something spectacular with how much Tasha has been raving over it, but apparently he is the nicest boy in the class. At least, according to all the girls.
After the parade, Tasha stayed for her class party, which mostly involved eating lots and lots of sugar. But hey, it’s once a year and she had a blast!
While we definately were not as prepared this year costume-wise, we still had a great week of Halloween festivities. On Wednesday night, I took the oldest two kids to what’s called “Trick or Treat Street”. The local business owners decorated their stores, dress up and give out candy. Some of the restaurants have specials or free beverages. It’s a fun event and the kids were so excited to go.
Here are my butterfly and very own spiderman all ready to go!
Spidey showing off his muscles (a.k.a. socks) 😉
Tasha showing off her wings. We bought them and decorated them ourselves. She asked for a “T” in the middle and when I was all done, she exclaimed with a huge smile and hug, “Mom, they’re Soooooo beautiful!” =)
Monday night, we carved our pumpkins for family home evening. The kids were more than happy to clean out all the pumpkin goop. Tasha was very vigilant in separating the goop from the seeds so we could have a tasty snack later. They both chose a scary face for their pumpkins. We ended the festivities with a much needed bath.
Kevin working on his pumpkin
Tasha loving her goop
Tasha’s halloween face!
Gettin a little help from Mom…well maybe not help so much. Mom smeared pumpkin goop all over Tasha’s arms, which began a small pumpkin goop war
Our little Annika fairy
Our fairy is flying!
The pumpkin carving crew with the final product
Fairy eating raw pumpkin….mmmmm?
Spooky….
Yesterday, Tasha started talking about this Tanner boy again…apparently, she’s already betrothed! When asked why she’d want to marry him, I was told that he’s handsome and nice and has a nice hairdo. She then informed me that next time I volunteer in her classroom, I needed to tell him that he’s going to marry her too. Oh REALLY!
Today, she was going on and on about him again! I think we’d better meet this boy if he’s going to be our future son-in-law! 😉