Thanksgiving 2013

Ahh, the holidays!  We always look forward to a yummy Thanksgiving feast surrounded by loved ones.

 I asked Cyrena to create a beautiful sign.  She pulled through-it was awesome!

 There was a fun football game in the backyard.  The girls were so into it and so funny!

 The beautiful bird roasted by Grandma and Grandpa

 A day to be very thankful!!

OCC and Movember

For the month of November David grew a mustache to raise awareness for Male Cancers.  It came in nice and thick and I didn't like it!  The girls didn't either. Cyrena and I vowed we wouldn't kiss him on the lips til it was shaved. Regardless, David loved it and all the attention it brought.  He was called Tom Selleck on occasion...only blonde and minus the dimples?

We also filled our shoebox for Operation Christmas Child like we do every year.  Usually we do a few but the budget was a little tighter this year.  We just found out it was mailed to Mongolia!

I couldn't get a picture with everyone looking.

 

Evan is 8 months

(ok he's actually 9 months now but I need to catch up!)

Halloween 2013

This year we went with a medieval theme that worked perfectly for the entire family.  We had a knight, a princess, a court jester, and a dragon!

All tuckered out

Natalie is 5

Yes it's official, she's not really a 'preschooler' anymore.  We have another 5 year old in the house and she couldn't be cuter. :)

Natalie has that special Halloween birthday.  So she got to have the preschool Halloween party on her birthday which was pretty fun for her!

 Grandma and Grandpa took Natalie to lunch for her special day.  Chik-fil-a of course!!

 She blew out candles on her Halloween cupcake

 She got some awesome ponies from Grandma and Grandpa Lemmert.  Here she is showing them off to Cyrena.  

 We had biscuits and gravy for dinner so she helped me make the biscuits.  This girls loves to help in the kitchen.

 During a break from trick or treating we opened presents.  She got some more princess Legos, puzzles and The Little Mermaid on DVD.  She was thrilled.

The next day she had a mega playdate with her best friend Gracie.  I think her birthday was a success!

 The BIG gift Natalie wanted for her birthday was piercing her ears.  So a couple of weeks after her birthday we finally had time to do it.  It was quick and easy and she couldn't be happier.

About Natalie:

-She really loves her toes and fingers painted.  

-She loves to look in the mirror and brush her hair

-Natalie is quick to give a complement and tell us how much she loves us.

-She loves doing arts and crafts

-She is a My Little Pony fanatic and has most of the episodes memorized!

-Natalie has found a new article of clothing to love-JEGGINGS

-Her snack of choice is "a whole apple"

-Natalie loves to giggle, cuddle and is very affectionate

I love to see the temple!

October was such a blessed month!  Not only did we have 4 sets of visitors but we also got to go on our own little road trip to Southern California to witness the sealing of this special couple:

Emily & Jason

Gorgeous!

We went to the historic Los Angeles temple and participated in their endowment and sealing ordinances.  It was an incredible experience.  The spirit was so strong and obvious throughout the entire time we were in the temple.  These two have been through so much and the adversary worked and worked on them but they overcame it all and couldn't be happier! 

 Emily with Mom and Ralph

 The famous front lawn!

 With Dad and Deb

 David, Michelle, Emily, Jason, and Richard

Emily and her big brothers that she adores.  These 3 are a hoot and a half together. 

A HUGE thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Taylor for keeping the kids overnight so we could make the trip!  I was nervous to leave--I haven't left them much (except for when I was hospitalized) and of course I've never really left Evan. But the kids had a great time and we kept getting funny texts/pictures from them!

 Evan just up from his nap

 BOSA donuts!

And Evan trying his first Chik-Fil-A french fry....NOT.  They know better, just posing him for the camera!

Fall fun

I realized this year that we had never made homemade caramel apples with the kids-FOR SHAME.  So we had a night where we got together with David's work family and dipped apples for dessert.  It was super fun and the kids had a great time!

Grandma and Grandpa Taylor came to town-hooray!  We started off by heading to our local pumpkin patch for some fun activities.

We carved out pumpkins as usual.  The girls were pretty good about cleaning out their own pumpkins this year.

We had such a great time having grandma and grandpa here.  They are always so happy to see us and to play play play!

We also got a fun visit from cousins in October.  Michelle and her kids were here for a week and time with cousins=heaven for my kids!