Family photo shoot

These are some of the pieces to our Christmas card. Our great friend Sandra (and husband Steve) was nice enough to "practice" picture-taking on us :) Thanks Sandra for helping us out. You're the best!

Merry Christmas!

A season of Thanksgiving

We love Thanksgiving. This year was different for us since we decided to stay home and celebrate with just our little family. Who knows? Maybe we'll start some new traditions this year! Thursday morning we attempted sledding. Unfortunately, we did more hiking in the snow than sledding because Lexi didn't last (we weren't prepared with proper clothing for her), but we enjoyed the beautiful sunny day in the snow anyways. As often as I say I "hate" the snow, I love it on days like that. It's so beautiful and we never had snow growing up. We had to drive more than 3 hours to get to it. The rest of the day we relaxed, the girls took naps, and we made probably the most simple turkey dinners ever.

My little snow bunnies

Rick was ahead of Keira and me on our little hike and noticed we were standing in this beautiful meadow so he snapped a shot of it. This picture doesn't do it justice!

The rest of the weekend was pretty chill as well. We painted turkeys...

...and built gingerbread houses.

The day after Thanksgiving, my best friend Sandra and I enjoyed some shopping in the late hours of the morning. And when I say late, I mean later than Black Friday hours. We went around 9 a.m. and didn't have many problems with crowds. No crazy lady shopping this year! When I say enjoyed, I mean it.

Later that day, we had more turkey with some of Rick's local extended family. Gobble Gobble! To finish off the weekend we took the girls to see "Tangled". Loved it! The girls did ok, but let's just say I'm going to hold off for awhile on another attempt at the movies with little ones.

To finish up, all I need to say is...aren't they so darn cute?

Happy Thanksgiving!

An Attitude of Gratitude

I love this time of year...I think I say that every year...because it is a time to reflect and to look forward. President Monson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints gave a talk in the 1992 April General Conference that reminded us to keep an "Attitude of Gratitude" (click here to read it) and remember the things we have and not dwell on the things we don't. He reminded us again the importance of recognizing blessings in our lives during the most recent conference in October (read about it here). I am so grateful for:

-inspired leaders of the church who know what messages I need to hear to become a better person
-a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ
-my faith in Jesus Christ, my Heavenly Father, and the Holy Ghost
-my family and the wonderful relationships I have with each of them
-my little family - Rick, Keira, and Lexi - for being mine that I can have them eternally (and more to come someday)
-my friends
-a home that I may be warm and sheltered
-food on my table
-clothes on my back
-and most especially the kisses and hugs my husband and children give me that remind me that I am loved :)

I have so many more things that I could list, but what is more important than that?

WE DID IT!

We completed our first sprint triathlon. I absolutely loved it and would totally do it again. Any takers?
I was really pleased with how I did. I finished in 1 hour 32 minutes and Rick finished in 1 hour 23 minutes (he did no training...Lucky guy). It's hard to describe the feeling of running across the finish line. I felt so accomplished! I know it's not the IronMan or anything, but hey! It was fun!

Hawaii! Mukalaki shiki...

I don't know what Wayne and Garth actually say, but I figure it's close enough, right? We cashed in on an incentive Rick earned this summer and, with some help from Gramma Judy and Grampa Steve, we were able to leave the kids with them and enjoy some time together. A few guys from Rick's team joined us. We all wanted to spend most of our time on the beach or hiking. We hoped we could swim in the pool of this waterfall, but a few years ago they had landslides that made it too dangerous. I guess it was good that it was raining because we got wet anyways!

Some of the gang: Andy, Baby Owen, Kelly, Doug, Me, Rick, Cam, and Travis (Thomas came that night)
And, of course, because my husband loves me SOOOOOO much, he took me to Sushi. My Fav!
Our favorite activity we did was Scuba Diving! What trip is complete without it? This was my favorite dive I've ever done so far. It was a 2-tank dive (if you don't know, it means 2 separate dives back-to-back). The first was to a sunken supply ship from WWII. We got to swim right through the control room. It was so cool. The second dive was through archways, caverns, and along the reef. We saw 3 white tipped sharks, several turtles, a blowfish, eels, and a few octopus. I touched the head of the octopus, but Rick actually held it! Super awesome!

Per request...

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin carving

Thank goodness I have a talented husband! He is so good with our pumpkin carving every year...I hope the kids inherit his artistic talent (because I have none!). Can you tell who they are?
It's kind of hard to tell in the picture, but Mickey Mouse is on the left and Minnie Mouse is on the right. We are big Disney fans in this house (especially for The Mouse and Mousette). Thanks honey for making the girls happy :)

Cousins

We got to have cousin Olivia play for the day while her mom went to work. The girls are so cute together. I love this age! And I love it even more when THEY ask to have their picture taken!

Pumpkin patch

This was always one of my favorite holiday traditions as a kid. I loved to go to the pumpkin patch and pick out my very own pumpkin! I hope my kids love it as much as I did. Only problem is that I grew up in California where it was still at least 70 degrees and my kids had to endure the cold 45 in Utah. I guess they won't know any different :) They are such good sports to humor their mother.

Lexi's turn

Wouldn't this be nice...Next year sweetie :)

Keira

I'm sitting on my computer trying desperately to catch up on blogs and heard the click of a door down the hall. Expecting my gem of a daughter to appear, I waited. Several minutes passed and still nothing. I thought she was taking her time, but instead discovered this...Guess she wasn't ready to wake up just yet :)

5 weeks and counting...

We are less than 5 weeks from the sprint triathlon! I'm actually super excited to do this. Thanks to cousin Chad's wife, Cara, for informing me and my husband supporting me, I feel like myself again. Just for the record, I'm not in it to compete and win. I needed something to motivate me to get into shape again and lose some weight (yes, baby weight). I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a goal and a way to get in shape with a variety of workouts. Love it! Wish me luck! Actually, wish US luck, but Rick is in way better shape than me so he won't need it as much as me :) Counting down...

Dino's and witches

Our neighbors invited us to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point last week to make witches hats, go on a Scaredy Cat hunt, and roam the museum in all it's Halloween decor. Lexi was sick so Keira and I had a Mommy-Daughter date.

Brooklynn and Keira in their personalized witches hats

Keira examining fossils

Making dams and moats for a miniaturized dinosaur habitat

"Paleontologists" digging for fossils

Thanks Stephanie, Brooklynn, Trey, and Luke for inviting us!

"Just another day in paradise...

...there's no place I'd rather be. Well, it's 2 hearts, 1 dream, wouldn't trade it for anything. And I ask the Lord every night for just another day in paradise."

I think she's saving some of her dinner for laterLike mother, like daughter. This girl downs salad like it's candy!

Good sharing Keira!

3rd time's a charm?

Potty training would not be at the top of my list of favorite things, but actually grateful that Keira is so ready for it. This is technically our 3rd attempt at potty training, but the first that we actually got involved with. Twice this summer Keira would try to potty train herself and I didn't want to discourage her. She always did great as long as she was sportin' her birthday suit :) For the third time around, I figured I need to get out of denial. We are almost at the end of week 3 and she has had so few accidents in the last week, I forget she used to wear diapers! Ok maybe that's a little much, but she's done great!

"Cheese!" This is obviously her new picture face. Not sure why, but she insisted on holding this flower.

"Show me your panties!"

Lexi wanted to get in on the action so insisted on wearing some of Keira's panties, too. I have some very persuasive children! I figure it's better than what she was trying to do...her birthday suit! Anytime she has access to her diaper, she takes it off. So we've had to keep her clothes on so she doesn't have access to her diaper!

Sunday's

Off to Gramma's house we go

After being home for only a week, we headed up to Gramma Judy and Grampa Steve's house for a couple days. It was a short visit because we still had so much to do around the house. You'd be surprised what needs to be done when you've been gone for 4 months! So we played toys, played outside, cooked with Gramma (something that seems to have turned into a tradition), fed the neighbor dog Dusty, played in the new (but under construction) treehouse, went boating with friends, and just relaxed. Rick had invited some of his APX team to enjoy some wakeboarding and tubing. Thanks Gma & Gpa for letting us mooch as usual :)

Playing in the treehouse...right now it's just the floor, but the girls loved it.

"Cheese!"