Christmas Day!

Christmas was so perfect this year. It was so much fun to see Braelyn have so much fun opening her gifts. Santa brought her this pink kitchen that she loves and plays with all the time! We took our time that morning and let Braelyn actually play with her gifts a little right after opening them. She wanted everything completely out of the packaging right away.

Gandma Joyce bought her this cute doll that sings and giggles!

Braelyn had to take a little break from opening presents to eat a banana and some juice.




This is Jake's new air compressor that he has been wanting for over a year now. I got a new camera, clothes and some slippers. It was such a great morning. After opening presents, we had pancakes. Mom was cute and made Braelyn Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes and she thought that was pretty neat!

We stayed home this year the whole day, which was wonderful! My sister Traci and her family came for dinner. The rest of my family was out of town this year. These are 2 of Traci's girl's; Ashlynn and Maci. They played the entire time with Braelyn! Here they were reading books to her, but Braelyn was too wound up to take a picture. Maci chased Braelyn through the house for about an hour or two (no kidding). They were both just laughing and having such a good time! Thanks girls for making Christmas so much fun for Braelyn. The adults played some games and then had pie later.



I realized after everyone left that I hadn't gotten a picture of Braelyn in her Christmas dress. She was so sweaty and her hair was falling out, but that will just remind me how much fun she had. I had to bribe her with candy to get a few pictures.

This is the look I got when she was sick of taking pictures.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve this was so much fun! First we went out to lunch to get out of the house. Then later Mom came over to make goodies. We made tons of sugar cookies and some toffee crackers that turned out so yummy. Braelyn helped decorate the cookies, and loved it. She did eat the M&M's every chance she got. Then we braved the cold and took a few goodie bags around to neighbors. It was soooo cold!

Later that night we watched some of Polar Express, then let Braelyn open her Christmas jammies. They were Minnie Mouse and she Loved them! She was so excited to put them on!

Minnie Jammies!



Then for story time that night we read all of our Christmas and Jesus books. It was such a great Christmas Eve, just what I wanted it to be!

Homemade Pizza!

I have been wanting to try and make homemade pizza
for a while now. Jake and I love the Italian style pizzas
with super thin crust and nothing but cheese, tomatoes
and basil. We haven't found anywhere around that makes
them like this. Our friend Lou is Italian, so I got a pizza
dough recipe from him and got the sauce recipe from
Mario Batali off the food network website. It actually
turned out pretty good! I was kind of proud of myself!

Halloween Fun!

This year our Halloween was packed full of fun!
A few days before Halloween we carved pumpkins.
Braelyn wasn't crazy about putting her hands in the
pumpkin and wanted me to scoop it for her with a
spoon and then give it to her to dump in the bowl.
She loved when lite them up! Then the day before
Halloween my brother and his wife Audra had a
costume party in Park City. I had fun making Jake
and my costumes. The party was so fun. They
did a great job decorating and had fun music and
hilarious games. Then on Halloween we took Braelyn
trick or treating with Tammy and Kyle's kids. I couldn't
pass up this last time for the 2 girls to trick or treat
together before they move to Alabama. It was so much
fun watching Braelyn run from house to house getting
candy. We had such a great Halloween this year!

My little Butterfly Fairy

I love this picture! The joy of being a kid!

Braelyn and Ryleigh looking cute in their costumes!


Ooo What is this?

Braelyn and I dancing at T.J. and Audra's party.


Cave people!

Our pumpkins. We are clearly amateurs.


My sweet little girl!

Fall Fun!

Jake had Monday off for Columbus Day and
we had a fun day. It was perfect FALL weather.
I was beginning to think that fall didn't exist in
Utah. We went to the pumpkin patch in Farmington.
We had so much fun. Braelyn was really excited about
the pumkins and liked to sit on the big ones. They also
had a cute hay maze for the kids. We went through it
about 10 times. I of course couldn't resist all of the
photo ops, but after about 50 or so pictures, Braelyn
said to me, "Enough pictures Mommy!". I thought, Ok
if my 2 year old is telling me enough then it probably is
enough.

Surprise!

Last weekend we went to St. George to surprise my Dad for his 60th birthday!
We had the plans in the making for months. We rented a house (all of us siblings and our families) and set up for the party. He was so surprised!!! He really didn't have a clue, so
that was the best part! We were so excited to throw him this party and it turned out so
great! Happy Birthday Dad!

He doesn't look 60, does he?

Limbo! How low can you go!

The house had an awesome view, a pool and a park right

behind it. It was the perfect place! We spent all day the

next day just hanging out at the pool!



I just can't get over these 2 together! So cute!!!

Jake had fun throwing the boys in the air into the pool.

At one point he threw Keynan, and he belly flopped.

He was pretty mad at Jake, so Jake belly flopped too

to make him feel better! What a great Uncle!



Jake's Belly Flop!

Wrapping up Summer

Here are a few pictures of some fun things we did this summer that didn't get posted.

Braelyn loved swimming in her pool!

We went hiking one morning and then

ate at The Oaks, our favorite summer place.


We went to the Zoo!

This is the baby Giraffe. They were Braelyn's favorite!


This was cool, the bears were play fighting!

Braelyn wasn't crazy about sitting on the elephant trunk.


Dad invited us for a weekend trip to Duck Creek. We had

a great time. Braelyn, being the busy kid she is, started

pushing this chair around the wrap around porch. It turned

into a parade of all the kids pushing chairs around the porch

for hours (literally about 3 hours). What ever makes them

happy!



Ryleigh and Braelyn being silly. These 2 are so cute together!


There was also a few lava caves there that we explored.

For Labor Day, we took a bike ride down Bridal Veil falls.

We went with all my siblings and all of the kids. This is

Ryleigh and Braelyn in the bike trailer. They both loved it.

It was so beautiful and so relaxing! Unfortunately this is the

only picture I got since we left the camera in the car.



This was just this morning, I was folding

laundry and Braelyn put on Daddy's socks.

My sweet little girl!!!