Pumpkins

Pumpkin carving was a big hit this year, the girls really got into it. It did consist of the usual groans and squeals of "gross" as we cleaned out the pumpkin insides, but the groans quickly turned to laughs as they carved the faces and worked on their creations.  We had a pretty sweet thunderstorm going on while we were carving, which was a great 'special effect' for Halloween carving.  The girls obviously wanted to make 'happy faces' for their pumpkins because 'scary' is just not their thing. ;)  Kate did hers like a 'Pops Face' and Abby made a happy grin. They were so excited to light them and watch them glow in the dark with the rain and thunder pouring in the background.  Definitely a night to remember and we loved it. It was so fun to have daddy here with us this Halloween for all the events. We are counting our blessings to have him home more with this job, but still grateful for all we experienced in DC. 

32 Years

Brett had his birthday a few weeks ago.  We are inching closer and closer to our mid-thirties now...32 years.  His birthday wish was to 'FLY.' Since skydiving is not in the budget, we got him a ticket to iFly in Austin and he loved it.  I wish I could have taken some clear pictures of his face pressed against the wind while he was in the air. Priceless. He had some hilarious expressions. I think iFly was a definite win for him. Afterwards, we were hoping to go to a fun pizza joint but Abby came down with a fever while we are at iFly.  Since Abbers needed some rest, we ended the celebrations with Papa Johns and a movie after the kids were down. I tried really hard to stay awake during the movie but sadly, I failed.  Poor Brett spend the rest of the night solo watching the movie.  We are so boring right now between pregnancy and early school mornings.  Everyone wanted to crash.  Oh well, I think it was a successful day in the end.  I sure love you Brett, Happy Happy Birthday! You are my better half for sure.

I was able to make a cake, thanks to my cousin Carrie's advice on some good recipes. I just wish my cakes could look and taste as good as hers.  Good thing the cake tasted yummy because the roast I made him for his birthday dinner the next day was not so great. I have the worst luck with roast. Hopefully time in Texas will help me improve in the meat department. ;)

The video below is of Brett flying.  Kate of course had to go 'potty' right when he was about to go in to fly so you will hear her singing the 'ABC's'  to keep her mind of it while I recorded.

Race Day-Kids Run

We love our neighborhood.  Everyone is friendly, we feel safe and they even plan fun events to do as a community.  They recently held a Kid's 1K Race for all the little ones in the area.  It was hilarious to watch a bunch of little people take off with a running jolt as the whistle blew and then crash into each other as they tried to get their footing right. I should have filmed the event but you get the idea.  There were a few collisions as they cruised the path, but they all made it to the finish line.  Both girls completed the race and felt so cool when they were given a medal at the end. The kids all felt like celebrities with neighbors and family cheering them on at the finish line.  I hope they do this event every year, we loved it.  One of the most entertaining factors was the fact Kate insisted that she have her Sunday shoes on for the race.  I tried to convince her otherwise, but there was no changing her mind. (This princess business is serious stuff. Ha!) They made it through their first 1K with only a bruise and a few blisters. ;) Such a great day.

Kate doing her 'stretches'.

 Abby and some of her friends.

Getting ready to go.

 Kate crossing the finish line and getting her medal, it was pretty cute.

Surprise!

I think I'm still in shock about the whole 'gender reveal' at the doctors this week.  We have been calling this baby 'Sister' for the past 4 months.  I was totally convinced it was a girl and even had a name picked out.  When the doctor showed that the baby is most definitely a boy I couldn't believe it.  Of course, since I didn't believe what I saw on the ultra sound, he zoomed in close to prove there was no question. Ha!  I didn't tell the girls what we were having so Brett could surprise them when he came home from work.  I told them he would come home with either blue or pink and whatever color it was determined if it was a boy or girl. Once the girls knew a surprise was coming the anxiety levels rose to a high degree and the minutes ticked by very slowly. ;)  They were so excited to see if they were having a brother or sister. The moment finally came when daddy had arrived and rang the doorbell.  Two excited little girls ran down the hall squealing the whole way. It was fun to see them so happy about having a brother.

No matter the gender, boy or girl, we very blessed and grateful to have this little baby join our family.   Can't wait to meet baby boy in March 2014!

The beginning of the next 20 plus years...

And so it begins, the next 20 plus years of her life will now involve schooling.  Abby started Kindergarten last week and is loving it.  I thought she would be timid when I dropped her off, but she sat right down and started coloring and chatting with her friend.  When I went to give her a kiss she happily said, "See ya mom." Well ok, I guess she was fine. Gratefully she got in the same class as her friend from church and I think that really helped the transition.  She even rode the bus home that day and felt pretty cool getting off with all the kids.  Abby loves to feel grown up.  She chatted away about her day and loved it. Now, I will say that the first week wasn't all 'peaches and roses.' The bus comes to pick up Abby at 7am and doesn't drop her off until 3pm, making it a bit of a long day for a 5-year old. We had our fair share of meltdowns from exhaustion, which I hear is pretty normal and it just takes some time to adjust.   Until then, we will try and find ways to help her relax when she returns at the end of a long day. 

Kate misses her sister, but I do think she loves having full reign of the toys at home and has a little more one-on-one mommy time.  It is fun to see her when Abby gets home. She lights up and says "I missed my sister!" It's fun to see Abby start a new chapter in her life and I'm glad she loves school. 

Checking out the school the week before...

Abby and her good friend Ryland.

Here she is the night before all in bed waiting for morning, she was so excited. 

The first day arrived. She sat right down and started coloring with Ryland.

She made it off the bus...success!

Lucky 7

Brett and I celebrated our 7-year anniversary on the 23rd of August.  I must confess we were pretty boring in our celebration this year because we had 'Back to School' events during the day.  But, don't worry, we are going on a date this weekend to make up for it. :)  

It's been a great 7 years with challenges and blessings that have brought us closer together.  I am so grateful for this good man. I married my match and I love him dearly. 

While we were in Utah he took me on a date to the place where he proposed 7 years ago.  It was fun to chat, kid free, and reminisce of the past years. There was an awesome sunset that night.  We even caught some pictures on our phone of us all sweaty from the hike. I must say he picked a good spot to propose.

Utah

Utah started off with the annual festivities revolving around Utah's Pioneer Day on July 24th.  We were able to meet up with family and also some friends from Virginia.  The girls loved being doted on by family and being reunited with their East Coast pals again. They wouldn't leave the sides of their friends for all of the parade and it ended in tears when we had to leave.  It was great to see them several times during our visit to Utah.  I'll always be grateful for the amazing friends we have met as we have lived in different places, they really do become like family.  

Brett, Spencer and Reese ran the Deseret News Half Marathon on the 24th and they were awesome.  We had a great time cheering them on along the sidelines. All the celebrations of the day concluded with a nice trip up Millcreek Canyon to see my dads family.  We had to miss the big reunion last year so it was great to see everyone there and catch up.  The girls loved having ice cream and smores in the canyon and they definitely experienced a 'sugar rush.' Phew.

We obviously couldn't get enough of the mountains when we are out West, so the following day we headed on a quick trip up to the Uintah Mountains.   I have a lot of fun childhood memories in the Uintah's with family.  My mom was extra nice and got a cabin for our trip, which was a definite bonus. The cabin was right next to a stream, and there was even a swimming pool.  The girls were in heaven because they could swim AND go throw rocks in the stream til dusk.  Plus, there were nice beds to sleep on. When it was too dark to play outside, we all returned to the cabin for a good round of games, an amazing dutch oven dinner, and star gazing. The night was complete with fresh cookies out of the oven to munch on.  Talk about a vacation, we were in heaven. The next morning we hiked around Mirror Lake and Moose Horn. My mom had brought along a raft to float on the lake which was a huge hit.  We are lucky the raft didn't sink as we ignored the weight limit and piled everyone in. It was Spencer's birthday while we were at the lake so my dad made his famous upside down cake in the dutch oven. Mmmmm. It tasted heavenly other than the wax that happened to melt inside it as he blew out his candles. Opps, my bad. The day ended with the traditional visit to the fish farm.  Nothing like the thrill of catching a fish in a flat 20 seconds. Gratefully no one lost their eyes as hooks were flying everywhere and girls screaming. Hopefully the girls have since toughened up for next year. 

Later in the week we were able to visit with Brett's cousins in Logan.  The girls always look forward to time with their cousins and they love the attention.  Angie was nice to make her famous dutch oven potatoes and grilled up a yummy dinner.  Our favorite of the  day trip while there was going to Bear Lake.  We played in the water and found cool rocks in the sand.  The water was FREEZING at first, but we adjusted and waded through the blue water.  I love that Bear Lake is naturally crystal blue.  I also never realized that you can walk about a half a mile out into the water and still be touching the ground, the girls loved that aspect.  The trip to Logan ended with a fun visit to Brenda and Keith's berry picking patch.  The girls came out of that visit with traces of blackberry smeared all over their faces, they loved it.  Our visit to cousins was far too fast, but we are grateful for the chance we had to see family and visit.

The remainder of the trip was full of visits with grandparents, birthday parties, lunch with friends and weddings.  I didn't think would fly so quickly in the 3 weeks we were there, but it cruised. We loved stopping by to visit Spencer and Nadine in Provo before we went home.  Spencer gave us a cool tour of his work at the BYU Media Center and we even ran into some 'Provo famous' celebrities are in the show "Studio C," which is apparently popular there.  We also got to see Nadine's new classroom where she is teaching and the girls loved getting a tour. Our Provo visit ended with a fun hike up to Bridal Falls, which was beautiful. We had such a great trip! It's always hard to leave because we love our visits out West.  Thanks everyone for a wonderful time.  It was so fun to see everyone and enjoy some 'cooler' weather.


As you can see, my brother Dave got a hold of this picture and did some editing.

Trip to the Unitah's:

Fishing was hilarious.





Games at the cabin


Spencer and Nadine were really nice to take the girls to the zoo for the day. They had such a great time with their uncle and aunt.

Kate feel asleep in his arms...so sweet.

Typical night with Pops getting the girls to walk on his back.

The girls love stories with Nani.






Making cake with Sippy

 Lunch with my good friends Sarah and Amy, and below, Reese, Kimi and Marcia (She had to leave before the picture.)

Abby, Kate, Mallory and Emily dancing at the park.

I wish I could have gotten pictures of the Parke and Bradley girls but sadly my phone died at that point.

Kate won first prize at the Sidewalk Sale in Bountiful.  She felt pretty cool.

The picture below is from a run I took in the morning while we were in Logan. It was so pretty I wanted to get a picture of the sun coming over the mountain.  Well, I went up close to a fence to get a good and angle and little did I know it was an electric fence. Yep, not my brightest moment.  It jolted me and I quickly left.  Oh boy.

Here you have it...our newly-wed apartment in Logan.  I didn't realize how much it really looks like a cellar instead of an apartment, no wonder we had so many spiders. It was Home Sweet Home so it worked great for us. :)

Below is the house it connected to...

We found the perfect combo of our alma mater and Texas....

Fun with grandparents.

Bridal Veil Falls

A good uncle rescuing Kate from falling in the creek. Good save Bean.

Gorgeous Timp...we are hiking that next year for sure.

Randomly meeting the cast from Studio C. Abby looks scared.

Provo Temple in construction

Kit the cat was not a fan of having the girls build her a fort.  This cat basically hates it when we visit because we take over her territory.